Liz Cheney says she's considering a third-party presidential bid
Liz Cheney speaks to supporters at an election night event during the Wyoming primary election at Mead Ranch in Jackson, Wyoming on August 16, 2022. | Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney is mulling a third-party run for president and will decide in the next few months, she said in interviews published Tuesday while promoting her new book.
“I think that the situation that we’re in is so grave, and the politics of the moment require independents and Republicans and Democrats coming together in a way that can help form a new coalition, so that may well be a third-party option,” Cheney told USA TODAY.
The former Wyoming congresswoman told The Washington Post that in years past she would have not considered a third-party run, but now she thinks “democracy is at risk at home, obviously, as a result of Donald Trump’s continued grip on the Republican Party.”
A fierce critic of Trump, Cheney served as the vice chair of the Jan. 6 select committee, which sought to prove that the former president was responsible for the attack at the Capitol. Trump often lashed out at Cheney, and his political operation was key in her primary ousting in 2022.
The 2024 race has already garnered a few third-party challengers, including Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Democratic President Joe Biden and Trump are both relatively unpopular in potential 2024 polling match-ups, and another candidate entering the race would present another challenge for them to navigate while seeking the White House. POLITICO reported in October that Biden’s campaign is taking third-party challengers seriously and planning counteroffensives.
This weekend, Cheney said she would rather see Democrats win the 2024 election than her own party.
“I don’t know if our party can be saved,” Cheney said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe while promoting her new book, “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning,” on Tuesday. “We may need to build a new party.”
