Rep. Liz Cheney has made no secret of her thoughts on former President Donald Trump, but her views have cost her. After publicly rejecting Trump’s claim to victory in the 2020 Presidential Elections, House Republicans have removed Cheney from her No.3 spot in the House Republican Leadership. The decision was made last week, in a voice vote behind closed doors. New York Rep. Elise Stefanik will replace Cheney. Stefanic has been a defender of the former President, though she has a less conservative voting record than Cheney.
Before the closed-door meeting, Cheney made a speech to the House in which she said she would lead “the fight to restore our party and our nation to conservative principles.” She also criticized Trump in her speech claiming that the former President could not be allowed to “drag us backward and make us complicit in his efforts to unravel our democracy.” Her bold remarks were met with boos from House Republicans.
Despite what this vote tells us, Cheney was among 10 House Republicans who voted for the former presidents’ impeachment in January 2021. At the time, she was vocal in her criticism of Trump and his role in inciting the Capitol Riots. Despite this, House Republicans still voted to keep her on, as the No.3 House Republican in early February. The No.3 position has the responsibility to execute the conference’s message to the public.
Last Wednesdays’ vote shows that there has been a shift among the House in assessing Cheney’s value to the Republican Party. Insiders have attributed this shift to the growing rift between House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and Cheney. McCarthy supported Cheney after January 2021, but now backs Stefanik for the No.3 Position. In a statement to Fox News last week McCarthy said that the Republican Party leadership “wants to be united in moving forward.”