Hageman: Wyoming needs a representative who shares our values

Wyoming is entitled to a representative in Congress who remembers who sent her there and honors the conservative principles we share. Liz Cheney has done neither, but I will do both. I am running against Cheney in the 2020 Republican primary so that we can take back Wyoming’s lone congressional seat and return it to those of us who have earned the right to call this great state home.

As a fourth generation Wyomingite, I learned the value of hard work, integrity, and loyalty while growing up on my family’s ranch near Fort Laramie. I was my parents’ fifth child, and when I was born, my oldest sibling was only 5 years old. My parents had just bought a ranch, were over $200,000 in debt, and had only $35 in the bank. I know firsthand what challenges our citizens face and how much effort they put into taking care of their families.

As a constitutional conservative, I have fought for Wyoming by opposing the crushing overreach of government, which threatens the ability of people to make it the same way my family did. I have waged my battles in court to protect Wyoming against runaway regulations and to preserve property rights.

Once referred to as one of the “fiercest and most effective” opponents of the Clinton administration, I won a victory for access to forest lands involving the illegal Roadless Rule. I’ve tangled with the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prevent erosion of the rights of farmers and ranchers. Wyomingites know that when their property rights have been threatened, I have been in their corner, and I will be their fiercest advocate when I am in Congress.

As you next Congresswoman, I will uphold Wyoming values because that’s who I am. We need a leader who will tirelessly oppose the disastrous policies of President Joe Biden, and I will go to Washington to cut wasteful spending, end the regulatory state, demand election integrity reforms, and eliminate harmful policies like Critical Race Theory.

The liberals in Washington show their disdain for us in everything they do. They want to dictate our medical decisions, how we raise our families, how we manage private property, how we run our businesses, and how we interact with our fellow citizens. In Congress, I will fight the Democrats and the socialist takeover of our country.

But Liz Cheney hasn’t fought those battles for us. We are in the fight of our lifetimes and need all hands on deck to stop the radical Democrats, but Liz is not with us; she has instead jumped ship, dogpaddled to the other boat, and is now shooting back at us.

Like most of us, I supported Cheney when she ran for Congress. But when she embraced Nancy Pelosi and voted for the partisan impeachment of President Donald Trump, she betrayed our nation, she betrayed Wyoming, and she betrayed me.

Liz’s anti-Trump behavior did not begin with that impeachment vote. For example, she gleefully joined liberals and the media in attacking Trump over a New York Times story that claimed that Russia was paying bounties to militants for targeting American soldiers in Afghanistan. Everyone now knows that the story was baseless, but we learned that Cheney’s impulse was to attack Trump before ever considering what the people in Wyoming thought.

I am grateful and proud to have received President Trump’s endorsement in this race, because I know how much he values Wyoming. Our voters supported him in overwhelming numbers in 2016 and 2020, by larger margins than any other state, because his policies were the best we had ever experienced.

But the media hated President Trump and they used Liz Cheney’s rhetoric and actions as weapons against him. In this manner, Cheney enabled the Biden administration and the disaster it has become.

Think of the litany of Biden’s failures: the bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in American deaths and stranded citizens, the crisis at the southern border, the revived coronavirus pandemic, and the brutal economy. And hitting home here in Wyoming is Biden’s war on our energy industries, which provide thousands of jobs for our hardworking citizens.

When you look in astonishment at Biden’s incompetence, remember that Liz Cheney says she regrets voting for President Trump in 2020. That’s an accurate reflection of her judgment, and it’s ironic, because that’s exactly what we think about her.

Just a couple of hours after I announced my candidacy, Cheney posted a defiant response on Twitter, saying, “Bring it.” If only she showed as much fire defending the interests of Wyoming as she does in defending her own hold on power.

I will be a stalwart defender of Wyoming and our shared conservative principles. As I announce my candidacy for Congress, I am humbly asking for your support.

Harriet Hageman is a Wyoming native, an attorney, a former Republican National Committeewoman from Wyoming, and a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Wyoming.

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