Vice President Kamala Harris just nabbed a major Republican endorsement in her mad dash for the White House: former Vice President Dick Cheney will be voting for her.
The former vice president released a statement Friday, a couple hours after his daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney (R) disclosed her father’s plans.
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” reads the statement. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”
“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution,” he wrote. “That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Trump responded to Cheney’s endorsement Friday evening.
“Dick Cheney is an irrelevant RINO, along with his daughter, who lost by the largest margin in the History of Congressional Races!” the former president posted on Truth Social. “He’s the King of Endless, Nonsensical Wars, wasting Lives and Trillions of Dollars, just like Comrade Kamala Harris. I am the Peace President, and only I will stop World War III!”
Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon applauded Cheney for his announcement.
“The Vice President is proud to have the support of Vice President Cheney, and deeply respects his courage to put country over party,” she said.
“For every voter who cares about America and understands the fundamental threat Donald Trump poses to our democracy and our Constitution, this campaign has a home for you,” she continued.
Earlier Friday, Liz Cheney broke the news of her arch-conservative father’s support for the Democratic nominee while speaking at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Friday.
“Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris,” she said to massive applause from the crowd.
The former congresswoman ― who lost her bid for reelection in 2022 after emerging as a major Trump critic, supporting his second impeachment and sitting on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack ― revealed her father’s decision a day after she, too, endorsed Harris .
“It is crucially important for people to recognize, not only is what I said about the danger that Trump poses something that should prevent people from voting for him, but I don’t believe that we have the luxury of writing in candidates’ names — particularly in swing states,” Liz Cheney said at an event at Duke University.
In an ad for his daughter’s 2022 reelection bid, the elder Cheney slammed Trump as a “coward.”
Former President George W. Bush, whom Cheney served with in the White House from 2000 to 2008, has occasionally spoken critically of Trump since his political ascent, but he has yet to ever endorse any of Trump’s Democratic opponents.
His father, the late former President George H.W. Bush, endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016.
Numerous Republicans also spoke in support of Harris at the Democratic National Convention last month, including some former members of Trump’s administration.
Local News
