The Republican Primary
August 15, 2022
The Wyoming Republican Party primary is pitting Congresswoman Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, against Harriet Hageman, an attorney that has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
Voters in the state have voted solidly Republican for decades, meaning the winner of the primary will most likely go on to represent Wyoming’s at-large district in Congress. With Rep. Cheney being one of the 10 Republican members of Congress that voted to impeach former President Trump, the race is being watched carefully nationwide.
The Jewish community is looking at this race with a lot of interest as well. So where do the candidates stand on Jewish issues?
Rep. Liz Cheney has a strong record in Congress and has been widely seen as a strong pro-Israel voice during her career. She reiterated her position on Israel last week as, after a meeting with local AIPAC members in Wyoming, she tweeted that she would “never waver in [her] support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and Israel’s right to defend herself.” During her tenure in Congress, Rep. Cheney has voted to provide funding for Israel’s Iron Dome air-defense system, and she has explicitly stated that “the Iron Dome saves lives and helps Israel defend herself from a barrage of rocket attacks by Hamas terrorists.”
Rep. Cheney is also a strong critic of the 2016 nuclear agreement with Iran and opposes the efforts of the Biden administration to negotiate with Tehran a return to the agreement. She has stated that “Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon is a clear and present danger. Returning to the failed JCPOA or seeking an even deal would be a disaster,” and has calledon the U.S. administration to “end JCPOA negotiations immediately.
Rep. Cheney has also been outspoken on issues concerning antisemitism, criticizing both Democrats and Republicans for failing to fully reject and condemn anti-Jewish hate. In 2019, she blasted Democrats for failing to explicitly condemn the antisemitic comments of Rep. Ilhan Omar and watering down a House resolution that was meant to condemn her remarks. At the same time, Rep. Cheney has called out Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for her continued antisemitic and hateful remarks, including for speaking, – together with fellow Republican Rep. Paul Gosar – at a white supremacist event organized by renowned Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. Moreover, in May 2022, Rep. Cheney leveled a strong accusation against her own party, tweeting that “the House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.”
Challenger Harriet Hageman has not held any elected office before, although she ran for Wyoming Governor in 2018, a race in which she placed third with about 22 percent of the vote. While she does not have a voting record on issues, she expressed some of her positions in a November 2021 interview with Jewish Insider.
Asked about her positions on foreign policy, Hageman stated that she “believe(s) strongly in protecting the United States’ interests and Israel’s interests. Israel is clearly one of our strongest allies and our best ally in that region of the world. It’s the only democracy in that region of the world…It has the absolute right to defend itself,” and that she could “understand the policy decisions that have been made over the years in order to do so.” In the same interview, she supported the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem under President Trump, calling it “fantastic.” Moreover, she stated that the Abraham Accords “were a huge step forward.”
When discussing antisemitism, she labeled out Democrat Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib as “two people on the left that have clearly espoused antisemitic views and really are unapologetic in their attitude.” However, she seemed to refuse calling out antisemites on the far-right, saying that she knows a lot of Republicans, but that she does not “know anybody who believes or holds antisemitic views.” Asked specifically about Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar, she said that “if they’re espousing antisemitic views, hold them accountable.”