President Joe Biden’s staggering unpopularity among Democratic voters has helped fuel several confirmed or speculative third-party candidacies ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
While former President Donald Trump appears to be in a prime position to secure a third straight GOP nomination and leads Biden in many head-to-head polls, particularly in crucial battleground states, a sliver of the electorate is determined to prevent a second Trump term at all costs.
One such voice is former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who cemented her role as a leading anti-Trump Republican before losing to her ultimate successor, Harriet Hageman, in a brutally decisive primary race last year.
Cheney has kept her promise to continue railing against Trump during her post-congressional career, vowing to leave the Republican Party altogether if he is the 2024 nominee.
All the while, she has flirted with the notion of launching a third-party White House bid of her own, coming closer than ever to making such an announcement this week during an interview with the Washington Post.
“Several years ago, I would not have contemplated a third-party run,” she said. “I happen to think democracy is at risk at home, obviously, as a result of Donald Trump’s continued grip on the Republican Party, and I think democracy is at risk internationally as well.”
Asserting that Americans “need a candidate who is going to be able to deal with and address and confront all of those challenges,” Cheney made it clear that she believes Trump is not the man for the job.
“That will all be part of my calculation as we go into the early months of 2024,” she added.
Given her own dismal performance against Hageman, the former congresswoman likely has no real intention of becoming the next president but rather hopes to siphon off enough Republican voters to help Biden limp toward re-election.
In case you missed it, Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) has been on liberal media tours, warning if Trump became President again, he would try to be President forever. She just announced she is considering running for President to stop Trump. WATCH pic.twitter.com/gOcfBqWAZK
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) December 5, 2023
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung offered another possible motivation for her continued pursuit of public attention.
“Liz Cheney is a loser who is trying to sell a book that either belongs in the discount bargain bin in the fiction section of the bookstore or should be repurposed as toilet paper,” he said.
