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Former Wyoming GOP Representative Liz Cheney put country over party. In swing state North Carolina, Cheney said she would vote for Kamala Harris in November. Cheney explained: “I don’t believe we have the luxury of writing in candidates’ names, particularly in swing states. As a conservative and someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this and because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump but I will be voting for Kamala Harris.” The crowd went wild.
Cheney has strong national security credentials. Her endorsement in North Carolina, a state with many active duty members of the U.S. armed services and military retirees, could be decisive in tilting North Carolina to Harris. She will repeat her patriotic message in Madison on September 20 – Cap Times Idea Fest. Cheney, a keen strategist, knows Wisconsin is the quintessential swing state. Cheney’s speech can help Harris win Wisconsin.
Cheney is clear-eyed about Trump: “At this moment, we are confronting a domestic threat that we have never faced before – and that is a former president who is attempting to unravel the foundations of our constitutional republic. … Republicans cannot both be loyal to Donald Trump and loyal to the Constitution. … America is sleepwalking toward dictatorship.” This isn’t hyperbole. Trump said: “Then I have an Article II (Constitution), where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” And posted: “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude (his lying about 2020 election) allows for the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Other conservatives remember January 6, 2021. Former federal judge Michael Luttig, who delivered the 2024 Kastenmeier Lecture at the UW-Madison Law School, endorsed Harris: “It is time for all Americans to stand and affirm whether they believe in American Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law … As a result, I will unhesitatingly vote for the Democratic Party’s candidate for the Presidency of the United States … Kamala Harris.”
Many Republicans agree. More than 200 Republicans who worked for GOP presidents and presidential candidates have endorsed Harris. They want to help Harris win swing states like Wisconsin. Moreover, over a dozen former GOP House representatives and 3 former GOP governors have endorsed Harris. What about Wisconsin conservatives?
Will former Wisconsin GOP Representatives Tom Petri, Reid Ribble and Paul Ryan join Cheney? They must heed Liz Cheney’s father, former GOP Vice President Dick Cheney, who also endorsed Harris: “He (Trump) tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power … .”
Liz Cheney opined: “The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution. … History is watching. … We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process.” Country over party, vote for Harris not the 1930s.
– Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C., for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.
