If you ask a MAGA hat-wearing voter in Casper, Wyoming, the answer is a flat "no." If you ask a political historian looking at voting records, the answer is "more than almost anyone else in the building."
It’s weird. Is Liz Cheney a Republican? Honestly, the answer depends entirely on whether you define "Republican" by policy or by person.
The short version: On paper, Liz Cheney is a conservative’s conservative. But in the current GOP ecosystem, she is a woman without a country. She was effectively kicked out of the party’s inner circle, censured by the RNC, and eventually lost her seat in a landslide primary defeat. Yet, she hasn't changed a single one of her right-wing views.
The Records Don't Lie: She's More Conservative Than You Think
People tend to forget that before the January 6th fallout, Liz Cheney was the third-highest-ranking Republican in the House. She wasn't just a member; she was leadership.
Look at the Heritage Action scorecard from the 116th Congress. Her rating was 82%. For context, Elise Stefanik—the woman who replaced her in leadership and is considered a Trump loyalist—had a significantly lower lifetime conservative rating at the time.
Cheney voted with Donald Trump’s agenda about 93% of the time. We're talking about a woman who:
- Voted against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) repeatedly.
- Supports a hawkish, interventionist foreign policy (very much like her father, Dick Cheney).
- Is staunchly pro-life, even when it caused public rifts with her own family.
- Advocated for tax cuts and deregulation at every turn.
Basically, if you look at her legislative record, she’s a Reagan-era dream. She didn't move to the left. The party moved, and she stayed exactly where she was.
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Why the GOP "Divorce" Happened
The breaking point wasn't over taxes or the border. It was January 6th.
When Cheney voted to impeach Trump, she didn't just cast a "no" vote. She became the face of the opposition. She famously said, "There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution."
Those aren't just fighting words; they're "burn the bridge and the map to the bridge" words.
The Consequences of Defiance
- Removal from Leadership: In May 2021, House Republicans voted to strip her of her role as Conference Chair.
- State Party Rejection: In November 2021, the Wyoming Republican Party voted to no longer recognize her as a member of the GOP. Think about that. Her own home-state party essentially "excommunicated" her.
- The 2022 Primary: She didn't just lose her reelection bid to Harriet Hageman; she lost by nearly 40 points. It was one of the most lopsided defeats for an incumbent in decades.
Where She Stands Now (2025-2026)
Fast forward to the 2024 election and beyond. Liz Cheney did the unthinkable for a "Republican": she endorsed and campaigned for Kamala Harris.
She argued that the threat Trump posed to the Constitution outweighed any policy disagreements she had with Democrats. This move led many to label her a "RINO" (Republican In Name Only), or simply a Democrat.
But here is the nuance: she still hasn't adopted Democratic policies. She isn't suddenly a fan of the Green New Deal or socialized medicine. She’s a conservative who believes the Republican Party has become a "personality cult."
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The Presidential Pardon and the Citizens Medal
In the final days of the Biden administration in early 2025, Joe Biden awarded Cheney the Presidential Citizens Medal. More controversially, he issued her a pre-emptive pardon. Why? Because Trump had spent months on the campaign trail suggesting she should face military televised tribunals for her work on the January 6th Committee.
It’s a wild timeline. A Bush-era neoconservative being pardoned by a Democrat to protect her from a Republican president.
Is She Still a Republican?
Technically? She likely still considers herself one. She often speaks about "restoring" the party to its roots—the party of Lincoln and Reagan.
Practically? No. The infrastructure of the Republican Party—the RNC, the state parties, and the base—has rejected her. She has no path to power within the current GOP.
If being a Republican means supporting the party's nominee and leader, then Liz Cheney is absolutely not a Republican. If being a Republican means adhering to the 2012 party platform of limited government and strong national defense, she’s one of the few left.
Actionable Insights for Following Her Future
- Watch the "Resistance" Networks: Cheney has been vocal about building "state-level resistance networks" to protect democratic institutions.
- Third Party Rumors: Don't rule out a future where she helps form a new center-right party. She's hinted at "whatever it takes" to change the current trajectory.
- Media Presence: She remains a fixture on news networks, serving as the "conservative conscience" for an audience that is, ironically, mostly Democrats and Independents.
To understand Liz Cheney is to understand the current identity crisis of the American Right. You've got to decide if a party is defined by its ideas or its leader. Until that's settled, Cheney will remain a Republican in her own mind and a traitor in the eyes of her former colleagues.
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Keep an eye on her upcoming speaking tours and potential non-profit launches. She isn't going away, but she isn't going back to the GOP as it exists today.