Wednesday 17 August 2022 02:19 AM Polls close in Wyoming where Liz Cheney is expected to lose her House seat trends now
Polls closed in Wyoming Tuesday night in a primary race that is expected to see former President Donald Trump's top GOP critic in the House, Rep. Liz Cheney, ousted from Congress.
Cheney faced a number of Republican challengers, but lawyer Harriet Hageman received Trump's endorsement last year, and was beating Cheney 29 points in the final poll.
Hageman's election night celebration was held at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Event Center, adjacent to a massive rodeo stadium in the Wyoming capital.
Supporters - a number of them sporting cowboy hats - gathered around barrels decorated with cowhides and lassos munching on charcuterie platters or waiting for drinks at corner bar as Tucker Carlson's Fox News program played on large TVs.
At one point, Another One Bites the Dust, played loudly.
Cheney was on the other side of the state in Jackson, appearing earlier in the day with her famous father, former Vice President Dick Cheney as a polling place.
She's expected to give a defiant address later Tuesday night.
'We're facing a moment where our democracy really is under attack and under threat,' Cheney told CBS News before going into vote.
The threat, of course, being Trump.
'And those of us across the board - Republicans, Democrats and independents - who believe deeply in freedom and who care about the Constitution and the future of the country, I think have an obligation to put that above party,' she said.
She also said that 'no matter what the outcome is' the 'fight is cleary going to continue,' suggesting that while she may lose Tuesday night, her political career wasn't over.
'Proud to cast my ballot today. The challenges we are facing require serious leaders who will abide by their oath and uphold the Constitution - no matter what,' she later tweeted.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney (left) appeared at a polling place in Jackson, Wyoming, alongside her father, Vice President Dick Cheney (right), where she spoke with CBS News
Hats and other campaign swag were on display at Harriet Hageman's primary campaign headquarters at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Event Center, where cow hides and lassos were used as decor
Wyoming Republicans DailyMail.com spoke to Tuesday outside Cheyenne's historic Storey Gymnasium had all voted for Hageman - with a lone Democrat saying he chose to stick with his party, and not cross over to bolster Cheney's chances.
Wyoming voters can switch political parties the day of the election. They can also vote at any polling place, but have to show identification.
'Well first of all she should represent her constituents, and she's not clearly - because that's why she's getting voted out - but secondly here's the reality, she didn't grow up in Wyoming,' said 58-year-old Cheyenne resident Roger Forystek, who works in insurance.
Thanks to her father's political career, Cheney split her time between Casper and Washington, D.C.
'And furthermore, she's kind of a spoiled brat, in my opinion. She's a spoiled brat. She's so used to getting her way, when she doesn't, she's throwing a tantrum,' Forystek added.
Voters line up outside the Storey Gymnasium, the Central High School facility that's listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Cheyenne Tuesday. Every Republican voter DailyMail.com spoke to at this polling place was backing Harriet Hageman
Former President Donald Trump (center) held a rally for Harriet Hageman (left) in late May and called into a tele-rally for her Monday night where he railed against Rep. Liz Cheney
A hand-painted sign in Casper, Wyoming that stands in opposition to the re-election of Rep. Liz Cheney, the most prominent GOP Trump critic in the House of Representatives
Tacy West, a 77-year-old from Cheyenne, had an even harsher take.
'She comes from a crime family. It's well known that her father was a leading pedophile,' West told DailyMail.com.
There's no factual basis behind West's comment - Dick Cheney has never been accused of pedophilia.
Rep. Liz Cheney shared a photo of herself voting in Jackson, Wyoming
'She acts crazy. You look at her eyes and she's not there,' West added.
A local pastor, who asked not to be named because of his line of work, told DailyMail.com that his vote for Hageman 'was moreso to spank Cheney.'
'She's being sent to the principal's office,' he said.
Cheney has become the most prominent House Republican critic of Trump - currently serving as vice-chair of the House select committee on January 6.
She's paid a price - losing her No. 3 leadership position in the House Republican Conference and was expelled by Wyoming's Republican Party, as the state's voters in 2020 had voted Trump over President Joe Biden by about 43 points.
The daughter of the former Republican vice president has remained steadfast in her criticism, saying in a campaign ad last week that her party's embrace of Trump's 'big lie' - his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him - is a 'cancer.'
'The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious,' she said in the video.
She added that the false claims are a 'door Donald Trump opened to manipulate Americans to abandon their principles, to sacrifice their freedom to justify violence, to ignore the rulings of our courts and the rule of law.'
For 20-year-old University of Wyoming student Abby Humble, who backed Hageman, it's not the substance - but Cheney's style.
'I don't disagree with what she did, I think she was just trying to defend the Constitution,' Humble told DailyMail.com. 'But at the same time, I don't really think that's what the people of Wyoming
