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Liz Cheney unmasked another prominent 'Republican for Harris' on Friday – telling a Texas crowd her father Dick Cheney would be crossing party lines to back the Democrat.
The former vice president – once a villain for Democrats amid controversy over the Iraq war during the Republican George W. Bush administration – isn't just sitting on the sidelines, but is taking his daughter's advice to back Harris.
'Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris,' the younger Cheney said Friday at the Texas Tribute Festival in Austin.
On Wednesday, the ex-Wyoming congresswoman was speaking to students at North Carolina's Duke University when she announced that she had decided to cross the aisle and vote for Harris.
'Because we are here in North Carolina, I think it is crucially important for people to recognize not only is what I have 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,' Cheney said.
'And as a conservative and as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this, and because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump but I am voting for Kamala Harris.'
Her decision was not unexpected, but she took the stop of arguing against mere 'protest' votes or staying home to counter Trump.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney threw her support this week to Kamala Harris. She said Friday that her father Dick Cheney would be voting for the vice president as well
She said Friday she wasn't a formal surrogate for Harris but would be 'very much focused on how important it is that we defeat him.' She called for defeating other candidates who have 'embraced election denialism.'
She called Democrat Colin Allred a 'tremendous serious candidate' and said that did not apply to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
'We need people who are going to serve in good faith,' she said.
The former vice president confirmed his decision in a statement.
'In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. 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,' Cheney said.
'As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.'
The former VP also cut an add during the 2022 cycle where his daughter lost her seat.
In addition to the same language about stealing the election, he added: 'He is a coward. A real man wouldn’t lie to his supporters. He lost his election, and he lost big. I know it. He knows it, and deep down, I think most Republicans know.'
Before serving two terms with Bush, the elder Cheney served as a member of the House Republican leadership and as chief of staff to President Gerald Ford.
Interviewer Mark Leibovich joked that her father was a 'beloved figure among Democrats for many many years' when he asked how Dick Cheney would be voting.
Her answer drew applause in the room.
The former House January 6 Committee member jumped into Republican politics after her father served two terms as vice president under GOP President George W. Bush.
The made the revelation in an interview at the Texas Tribune festival
Both Cheneys are former House Republican leaders, and the elder Cheney served two terms as George W. Bush's Republican vice president
She was ousted from Congress after losing her GOP primary in ulta-red Wyoming to a Trump-backed candidate, now Rep. Harriet Hageman, in 2022.
At the Texas Tribune Festival, Cheney was asked if there had been any discussions about her speaking at the Democratic National Convention, as her fellow Republican member of the January 6 commission, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, had done.
Cheney said she didn't appear at the DNC because 'I wanted to make the announcement, to do it in a way that wasn't connected to the party politics of the moment.'
'I also happened to be in London at the Taylor Swift concert,' Cheney added to cheers.
She ended up making her announcement in a key battleground state that Trump carried in 2016 and 2020, and where Trump was campaigning again on Friday afternoon.
He called for keeping 'the cheating' down 'to a minimum, and blasted the Stormy Daniels case in New York that had him convicted on 34 counts, saying there was 'no case' and calling it a 'witch hunt.'
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