Republican Liz Cheney says she will vote for Harris in presidential election

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming announced Wednesday that she plans to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in November, as she warned about "the danger that Donald Trump poses."

"As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this," Cheney told Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy during a speech Wednesday. "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."

Cheney served in the U.S. House as a Republican from 2017 to 2023. Her father, Dick Cheney, was vice president to former President George W. Bush.

"I think it is crucially important for people to recognize, not only is what I just said about the danger that Trump poses something that should prevent people from voting for him, but I don't believe that we have the luxury of writing in candidates' names, particularly in swing states," Cheney said. Duke is located in North Carolina, which is considered a swing state in the 2024 presidential election.

Cheney has been a vocal critic of Trump since the 2020 presidential election. She lost her leadership role in the House after voting to impeach him several months after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Cheney served as a vice chair of the House select committee that investigated the Capitol riot. She lost her House seat in the 2022 primary to a Trump-backed challenger.

While Cheney voted for Trump over President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, she said she later regretted her choice.