Rep. Liz Cheney Survives No-Confidence Vote, 145-65; Will Remain GOP Conference Chairwoman

On Wednesday, House Republicans allowed Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) to keep her position as the GOP conference chairwoman after members aired concern over her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump last month.

Sixty-one Republicans voted to remove Cheney from her position, while 145 voted for her to stay in a vote by secret ballot.

Cheney was the most high profile and highest-ranking of the 10 House Republicans, who voted to impeach the former president. Cheney told her Republican colleagues she would not apologize for her vote.

“We’re not going to be in a situation where people can pick off any member of leadership,” Cheney said after the meeting. “It was a very resounding acknowledgment that we need to go forward together and then we need to go forward in a way that helps us beat back the really dangerous and negative Democrat policies.”

Cheney had the support of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), the top two GOP leaders in the House, during the meeting. However, both encouraged members to question Cheney’s decision leading up to the GOP meeting, McCarthy saying just last month that he had “concerns” that she did not disclose her vote or her plan to speak out against Trump ahead of time.

“People can have differences of opinion. That is what we are having a discussion about,” McCarthy said. “Liz has a right to vote her conscience.”

After the meeting and the vote, both of the top leaders said their conference was in a good place.

“We just got a resounding shot in the arm that we got a team,” McCarthy said. Scalise said the conference “came out much stronger” because everyone could air their grievances.

Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Montana) and Rep. Andy Briggs (R-Arizona) led the efforts to remove Cheney from her leadership.

Rosendale called for Cheney to step down, saying she “failed to consult with the Conference, failed to abide by the spirit of the rules of the Republican Conference, and ignored the preferences of Republican voters.”

Not only did her vote create conflict in the House, but it caused her trouble back home as well.

Cheney has drawn three primary challengers for her House seat, including State Sen. Anthony Bouchard (R), who said her impeachment vote “shows just how out-of-touch she is with Wyoming.”

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) traveled to her home state to rally against her, calling her a “Beltway bureaucrat turned fake cowgirl” and blasting her impeachment vote and support for American military involvement overseas.