GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming has said that she could back a Republican for the White House in 2024, but that she “would find it very difficult” to back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a general election, according to the New York Times.
“I think that Ron DeSantis has lined himself up almost entirely with Donald Trump, and I think that’s very dangerous,” Cheney said.
Cheney was one of the 10 House Republicans to vote in favor of impeaching then-President Donald Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot last year. She was later ousted from her role as House Republican conference chair. The lawmaker is one of the two Republicans serving on the House select committee established to investigate the Jan. 6 episode.
Cheney described the GOP as “very sick,” according to the Times — she remarked that it “is continuing to drive itself in a ditch and I think it’s going to take several cycles if it can be healed.”
DeSantis, who is currently seeking re-election in the Sunshine State’s 2022 gubernatorial contest, has not announced any plans to launch a presidential bid, but the governor has become an enormously popular figure on the political right and many consider him to be a possible future presidential contender.
Cheney is facing Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman during a Republican primary.
“If the cost of standing up for the Constitution is losing the House seat, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay,” Cheney said, according to the Times.
Cheney told CNN’s Jake Tapper during an interview last month that she had not yet made a choice about whether to mount a 2024 presidential bid, but that she will “make a decision about 2024 down the road.” She also said that regardless of the outcome of her congressional primary contest, she will “continue to fight hard to ensure Donald Trump is never anywhere close to the Oval Office ever again.”