Republican voter registration numbers in Wyoming have grown by a small margin as Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) invited Democrats to change parties to vote in the open Republican primary on August 16, while Democrat voter registration numbers have shrunk. The numbers suggest a slight migration of Democrats to Cheney’s cause, but not nearly at the scale needed for her to overcome the margin by which she currently trails in the primary.
According to the data, registered Republicans in Wyoming have increased by 11,495 from January to August this year. The number of registered Democrats, on the other hand, has shrunk by 6,069 in the same period. Unaffiliated voters have also shrunk by 1,575. In total, the state has gained 3,816 more registered since January. These statistics come from the Wyoming Secretary of State’s regular reports on the numbers of registered voters in the state.
Technically, Wyoming law states that voters must be affiliated with a particular party to vote in that party’s primary election–but voters can change their party registration on primary Election Day or any time leading up to it. In other words, it is essentially an open primary. This means that a few thousand Democrat and unaffiliated voters may have changed party affiliations to vote for Cheney, as she is openly encouraging, but Wyoming Democrat Party chairman Joseph Barbuto said he believes the migration will not be nearly effective enough to save her.
Liz Cheney (R-WY), vice chairwoman of the partisan January 6th Committee, sits with her fellow committee members during a hearing on June 16th, 2022. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The total amount of Wyoming voters is slightly more than 284,500. If approximately 6,000 non-Republicans have registered as Republicans to vote for Cheney, that number amounts to about 2 percent of the total electorate–assuming 100 percent turnout among registered voters. Polling shows that Cheney is trailing conservative challenger Harriet Hageman, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, by 30 points.
“There aren’t enough Democrats in Wyoming to save her, but this confirms that Liz Cheney has effectively switched parties,” Hageman adviser Tim Murtaugh told Newsweek.
Democrat operatives noticed in June that Cheney had sent out mailers to Democrats asking for them to vote for her. The mailer had direct instructions on how Democrat Wyoming voters can change their party affiliation to cast a vote for Cheney. The mailer also displayed Cheney’s campaign web address for Democrat voters to learn more specifics.
Cheney’s efforts to save herself from defeat in the GOP primary come after she made herself the face of the partisan January 6 Committee. In recent weeks, Cheney has won endorsements from Hollywood elites and donations from top donors of Democrat luminaries like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama.
Cheney admitted she could lose the election next week. “If the cost of standing up for the Constitution is losing the House seat, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay,” she told the New York Times in an interview.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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