
Republican Conference chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with reporters as lawmakers leave the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 10, 2020. She was one of 10 Republicans on Wednesday to vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
Rep. Liz Cheney is facing backlash from conservative members of her own party after announcing Tuesday she would vote to impeach President Donald Trump, with some going as far to call for her removal as GOP Conference Chair.
Cheney — the third-ranking Republican in the House — made national headlines after calling for Trump to be removed from office for his role in inciting a riot at the United States Capitol last week that left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer. Wyoming’s lone member of the House of Representatives followed through on her decision Wednesday, becoming one of 10 Republicans to vote to impeach Trump.
Also on Wednesday, some Republican members of Congress began circulating a petition among members of their caucus calling for Cheney to resign as the party’s chief spokesperson, saying her personal position on issues “does not reflect the majority of the Republican Conference” and had sowed discord among the membership.
On Tuesday night, Trump loyalists like Montana Republican Matt Rosendale and House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Biggs had already tendered statements calling for Cheney’s resignation. Meanwhile, a Change.org petition has begun circulating on Wyoming-based social media pages calling for her recall. As of this writing, it had more than 10,000 signatures.
Nine other House Republicans also supported impeachment: Reps. John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Fred Upton and Peter Meijer of Michigan, Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse of Washington state, Tom Rice of South Carolina, and David Valadao of California. Some Republicans have also signed petitions to censure and condemn the president’s role in last week’s riot.
Cheney, on Wednesday, said she would be holding on to her position, even as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy came out against impeachment on the House floor. Others, including Freedom Caucus member Chip Roy, have issued statements in support of Cheney, while Katko has circulated his own petition gathering signatures from Republicans showing support for Cheney’s position.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she told a reporter from Politico. “This is a vote of conscience. It’s one where there are different views in our conference. But our nation is facing an unprecedented-since-the-Civil-War constitutional crisis.”
Cheney has regularly clashed with members of the far-right within her party due to her occasional criticism of Trump, riling up other hardline conservatives like Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert — each of whom have consistently defended the president — for her objections to the president on foreign policy and other matters.
She also made headlines for funding the primary opponent of Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie after he forced members of Congress to return to the Hill at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to vote on an emergency relief bill in person.
Cheney, notably, has voted with Trump’s positions approximately 93% of the time throughout her last two terms in Congress, according to an analysis by the website FiveThirtyEight.
Since first running for office in 2016, Cheney has not faced a credible opponent in the Republican primaries, winning all of her races by a margin of at least 18%. Her closest race was her first, in which she emerged from a competitive, nine-way primary with nearly 40% of the vote, beating out a conservative state lawmaker Leland Christenson and the moderate Republican Tim Stubson, who earned just under 18%.
The only other candidate to finish in double-digits in that race was Darin Smith, who finished with 15% of the vote.
Whether Cheney will face a primary challenge in 2022 is so far unknown. However, no Republican congress member from Wyoming has lost a primary challenge since 1968, when John S. Wold defeated on-again, off-again Congressman William Henry Harrison in that year’s election.
Photos from the attack on the U.S. Capitol
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Police with guns drawn watch as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters participate in a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

People listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Lawmakers evacuate the floor as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

People shelter in the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters gesture to U.S. Capitol Police in the hallway outside of the Senate chamber at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

U.S. Capitol Police hold protesters at gun-point near the House Chamber inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

U.S. Capitol Police with guns drawn stand near a barricaded door as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

A woman is helped up by police during a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Police keep a watch on demonstrators who tried to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

President-elect Joe Biden speaks at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. Biden has called the violent protests on the U.S. Capitol "an assault on the most sacred of American undertakings: the doing of the people's business." (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Lawmakers prepare to evacuate the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

People shelter in the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Trump supporters participate in a rally Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his baseless claims of election fraud. The president is expected to address a rally on the Ellipse, just south of the White House. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Papers and other equipment after the House floor was evacuate as protesters tried to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

Supporters of President Donald Trump climb the west wall of the the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Electoral College Photo Gallery

U.S. Capitol Police try to hold back protesters outside the east doors to the House side of the U.S. Capitol, Wednesday, Jan 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)