Some House Republicans are anticipating a reshaped GOP caucus in 2023 without Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) alliance with House Democrats.
After polling showed Cheney losing to Wyoming primary candidate Harriet Hageman by large numbers, conservatives are expecting changes in the post-Cheney Republican-controlled House after the November elections.
Some Republicans have suggested Cheney will join CNN or MSNBC to push Democrat narratives. Others have proposed Cheney’s partisan January 6 Committee should be retooled as a weapon for Republicans to protect election integrity. Still others have their eye on battling the administrative state’s unaccountable power under President Joe Biden’s executive orders.
The question is no longer whether Liz Cheney will win or lose her election.
The question is whether she'll head to MSNBC or CNN afterwards.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) July 16, 2022
“We have to put a lot of pressure on them [administrative state], when they try to go outside the will of Congress and go at it on their own because of a rule they decide to put in place,” Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) told Breitbart News on Sunday.
Mullin said House Republicans in the next term should be far more focused on administrative oversight, which he says is needed to return the law-making powers back to Congress and away from technocrats in unaccountable government bureaucracies.
“When you have executive orders that are making laws, that is not a government by the people for the people,” Mullin said. “That’s the executive branch moving towards a socialist country.”
With Cheney’s potential defeat, along with retaking the majority in the House, some Republicans believe Cheney’s January 6 Committee should be redirected from investigating former President Donald Trump to protecting election integrity.
“I don’t think we can disband the Jan. 6 committee,” Rep. Matt Gaetz stated on his podcast. “I think we have to take over the Jan. 6 committee.”
Rep. Jim Banks (R-ID) told Politico he is unsure if Cheney’s weapon should be retooled or disbanded, leaving that decision up to Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
“When Republicans are in the majority, and Kevin McCarthy is the speaker, that’s probably a conversation for another day,” Banks said. “I’m not aware of what his intention is.”
Cheney’s potential defeat in Wyoming has raised questions about whether she intends to remain in the political spotlight or retire from public life. ABC News’ Johnathan Karl asked Cheney this month if she intends to run for president in 2024.
“So, do you run for president if — I mean, do you see yourself running for president as a way to prevent what you say would be a destruction of the party and ultimately damaging our country?” he asked.
“I haven’t made a decision about that yet,” Cheney replied. “And I’m obviously very focused on my reelection. I’m very focused on the Jan. 6 committee. I’m very focused on my obligations to do the job that I have now. And I’ll make a decision about ‘24 down the road.”
Cheney’s continued focus on the January 6 Committee is unpopular with Wyoming voters. According to a Casper Star-Tribune/Mason-Dixon poll on Friday, 54 percent of voters were less likely to support Cheney’s reelection “because she’s part of the panel investigating the attack on the Capitol.”
“The big story is Liz Cheney is going to get beat,” Brad Coker, managing director of the polling firm Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, stated about the polling. “That’s a foregone conclusion.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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