Wyoming kills bill backed by Donald Trump Jr. to try to defeat Liz Cheney

The former president’s son has increasingly attacked Republican No.3 since she voted to impeach his father following the deadly attack on Capitol Hill. Cheney called the then president’s actions surrounding Jan. 6 a “betrayal” of his constitutional oath, and said the former president should not play “a role in the future of the party or the country.” .

In January, Trump Jr. called an anti-Cheney rally led by Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, urging Republicans to rally around a single candidate to challenge her. And in March, Trump Jr. publicly lobbied senators from member states of the committee working on the bill, tweeting their email addresses to his 6.8 million subscribers.

“Any Wyoming Republican who responds to Liz Cheney’s offer and opposes SF145 turns his back on my father and the entire America First movement,” Trump Jr tweeted.

Gray told CNN he supported the legislation “because Wyoming deserves the opportunity to choose between the top two candidates for the job.”

“Liz Cheney’s betrayal of our Wyoming values ​​is a clear indicator that a second round election is needed,” he added. “It’s no wonder his team is working behind the scenes to end this legislation.”

Ahead of the vote on the bill, a spokesperson for Cheney told CNN that she “trusts the state legislature to do what’s right for Wyoming” and that “neither she nor her allies don’t try to influence the state legislature on the bill in any way. . “

But despite Trump Jr.’s best efforts, a Wyoming state Senate committee amended the bill to not come into effect until 2023, as some lawmakers pushed to give county clerks enough time to adapt.

Wyoming State Representative Dan Zwonitzer, the Republican co-sponsor of the legislation, had doubted its passage this year, telling CNN the state needed more time to fully understand the cost and impacts of the legislation. moving the primary from August to May, and creating a new election in the second round. Zwonitzer also said national attention has put lawmakers in a difficult position.

“When Republican national politics comes to Wyoming, it divides more and creates the same hardships for us,” he said. “Now all of a sudden the bill will be seen as ‘Are you a Trump loyalist or not?'”

“These weird purity tests are going to start rolling in and it’s just more division that we don’t need in the Republican Party or in Wyoming,” he added.

Supporters of the bill now say the fight for it will move to next year’s legislative session.

“For now, it’s done,” State Representative Hans Hunt told CNN.