Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), who was defeated for reelection in the 2022 Republican primary after opposing and voting to impeach President Donald Trump, is buying ad time in Arizona opposing two popular Trump-endorsed candidates. Her PAC, The Great Task, purchased $500,000 in air time to run an ad critical of Trump-endorsed Kari Lake, who is running for governor, and Trump-endorsed State Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), who is running for secretary of state.
During the ad, which features a clip from a speech Cheney gave at ASU sponsored by the McCain Institute earlier this month, Cheney stated, “I don’t know that I have ever voted for a Democrat. But if I lived in Arizona, I absolutely would.” She claimed that Lake and Finchem “will only honor the results of an election if they agree with it.”
Lake disputed Cheney’s characterization of her position. “I will absolutely accept the results of a fair, honest and transparent election,” she told The Arizona Sun Times. “I know that I am going to win. We have more than a political campaign, we have a movement. And I know the people of Arizona will never elect a racist and a coward like my opponent, Katie Hobbs. She’s been convicted by two separate juries of being racist. And her cowardly decision not to debate showed the people of Arizona that she does not respect them.”
Lake tweeted a letter she wrote thanking Cheney for the ad. She teased that it was really an in-kind contribution, exceeding “Arizona’s $5,300 individual contribution limit.” She said, “Your recent television ad urging Arizonans not to vote for me is doing just the opposite. Our campaign donations are skyrocketing and our website nearly crashed from traffic … my team tells me your commercial should add another 10 points to our lead!”
She concluded, “Enjoy your forced retirement from politics. I know America will rest easier knowing that one more warmonger is out of office.” Within an hour, the tweet had over 5,000 retweets and over 18,000 likes.
Thank you, @Liz_Cheney. pic.twitter.com/rW5Qevwwf5
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) October 29, 2022
Finchem also said that Cheney mischaracterized his statements about the election outcome. “Anyone Liz Cheney runs ads against actually helps them because no one likes Liz,” he said to The Sun Times. “I appreciate Liz helping mine and Kari’s name ID. As long as there are no votes counted that are outside of the law, of course I will accept the result.”
He tweeted on Friday about Cheney, “Liz Cheney & her hunting pro dad Dick Cheney are warmongers who’ve been hostile to Arizonans for decades. They’re responsible for trillions of dollars wasted & millions of deaths & wounded Americans during their nation building exploits. They got rich with Halliburton & the MIC.”
Lake made similar remarks on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” in September after hearing Cheney intended to get involved to defeat her. She said to host Maria Bartiromo, “That might be the biggest, best gift I’ve ever received. I mean, the people of Wyoming can’t stand her. I’m pretty much sure that the people of Arizona don’t like Liz Cheney.”
Lake added, “You know, here’s the deal, Maria, the Republican Party, the new Republican Party, is the party of ‘We the people.’ It is no longer the party of warmongers. So Liz Cheney should probably turn in her voter registration. It turns out she really is a Democrat after all.”
Cheney voted to impeach Trump, and serves on the Democrats’ J6 committee. She said that “Trump attacked the Capitol,” then later adjusted her statement to say he “sent a mob to attack the Capitol.” She launched The Great Task PAC after her primary defeat in August, and said its primary goal was to stop Trump from becoming president again.
Cheney said she is considering running for president, but a Yahoo News/YouGov poll showed if she ran as an independent she would take more votes away from President Joe Biden than Trump. She said in August that “large portions” of the Republican Party are “very sick.”
Cheney endorsed Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin (R-Mich.-08) over Slotkin’s Republican challenger, Michigan State Sen. Tom Barrett (R-24).
Lake is currently polling 11 points ahead of Hobbs in the latest survey, which is from InsiderAdvantage. Polls in the secretary of state’s race show Finchem ahead of Fontes, with an October CDMedia Big Data survey putting him at 45 percent to Fontes’ 42 percent.
– – –
Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Liz Cheney” by The Great Task.
