Voters in Wyoming headed to the polls on Tuesday (August 16), as the nation watches closely the race between Liz Cheney and her Trump-backed challenger, Harriet Hageman. Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
People started entering the Teton County library at 7 a.m. local time. Some of them arrived early to change their party affiliation in order to vote for Republican candidate, Cheney. Madison Gerard, who usually votes Democrat, is one of them. “I absolutely admire the way she has stood up to the January 6 committee and what she said there and I believe that she might be our hope for true democracy continuing in the state of Wyoming,” Gerard said after exiting the polling location.
Supporters of Cheney believe she still has a shot if enough Democrats and independents cross over and vote for her, which is allowed in the state’s primary system. Republican voter, Julie Pfingst, does not agree with this tactic.
“You know, the one thing about Wyoming that I don’t like is people who are Democrats will come in to the primary, switch their party so they can vote for Liz or whoever – they did last time during the governor election and then they go back. And I just think that’s dishonest. I think it’s shady,” Pfingst said.
Charlie Shinkle is a Democrat and he also disagrees. He argues that this method is hurting those running in local elections. “I don’t think two years ago people would have even given Liz Cheney a thought and it’s kind of sad because the Democrat Party in this town has lost a lot of voters on local elections for them trying to chase the Liz Cheney vote,” he said.
Cheney trailed Hageman 52% to 30% in a survey of likely primary voters from July 7 to 11 published by Wyoming’s Casper Star-Tribune. A University of Wyoming poll released last week put Hageman’s lead at 29 points.
(Reuters)