CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney is “out of touch” with Wyoming for her vote to impeach President Donald Trump, a Republican state senator said Wednesday in announcing he will run against her.
Sen. Anthony Bouchard of Cheyenne has a long time to become better known to voters before the August 2022 Republican primary. But he faces tough odds against the nationally known Cheney.
Along with a recent censure vote by the Carbon County Republican Party, it was the latest political fallout for Cheney for her Jan. 13 vote to impeach. Cheney was among 10 Republicans siding with Democrats in the 232-197 vote.
“Liz Cheney’s long-time opposition to President Trump and her most recent vote for impeachment shows just how out-of-touch she is with Wyoming,” Bouchard said in a statement on his website.
Cheney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
A gun-rights activist who along with his wife works in a family septic system cleaning business, Bouchard has served in the Senate since 2017. He is little known outside the Cheyenne area.
Cheney has quickly risen since her election to Congress in 2016 to the No. 3 GOP leadership position in the U.S. House. Her job as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference includes coordinating GOP messaging in the chamber.
Cheney has described her vote to impeach as one to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
In Saturday’s unanimous vote to censure Cheney, Republicans in rural south-central Wyoming’s Carbon County accused her of violating the trust of those who voted for her.
While it’s not yet known if the Wyoming Republican Party central committee will consider censuring Cheney when it meets Feb. 5-6 in Rawlins, no other county Republican officials as of Wednesday had done so. Statewide elected officials including Wyoming’s Republican U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis stood by Cheney when asked about the censure vote.
“Representative Cheney is a key part of our delegation’s stature,” Republican Gov. Mark Gordon said in a statement Tuesday.
Trump won Wyoming in November by his widest margin of any state, claiming 70% of the vote. A daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney beat a little-known Democrat with 69%.
She raised almost $3 million in the election cycle and as of November had a more than $150,000 surplus in her campaign accounts, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Bouchard filed the paperwork Wednesday to run for Congress. Cheney filed in November to run for re-election.
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