Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).
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Rep. Liz Cheney warned Arizona voters not to elect GOP candidates Kari Lake and Mark Finchem.
Both Lake and Finchem have denied the results of the 2020 election.
Cheney said she would vote for their Democratic opponents had she lived in Arizona.
Rep. Liz Cheney on Wednesday evening warned Arizona voters not to elect Republican candidates for governor and secretary as they have publicly denied the results of the 2020 election.
“They both said that they will only honor the results of an election if they agree with it,” Cheney said during a conversation at the Arizona State University’s McCain Institute, referring to gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem.
”If you care about democracy, and you care about the survival of our republic, then you need to understand, we all have to understand, that we cannot give people power who have told us that they will not honor elections,” Cheney continued, adding that elections and peaceful transfers of power are “the foundation of our republic.”
Former President Donald Trump has endorsed both Lake and Finchem in their bids to become the next governor and secretary of state of Arizona. Both candidates have supported Trump’s false election claims, and have closely aligned themselves with him in their campaigns.
Cheney’s comments come after she August lost her Wyoming Republican primary in August against her Trump-backed opponent, Harriet Hageman. The congresswoman, an outspoken critic of Trump, continues to blast the former president over his role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, and his election falsehoods.
Cheney said that while she’s voted Republican for almost 40 years, had she lived in Arizona for this year’s midterm elections, she would cast her ballot for the Democrats. Lake and Finchem will face-off against their Democratic opponents Katie Hobbs and Adrian Fontes, respectively, come November 8, and the races are neck-and-neck, according to polling.
“I don’t know that I have ever voted for a Democrat,” Cheney said. “But if I lived in Arizona now, I absolutely would, for governor and for secretary of state. I think we cannot be in a position where we elect people who will not fundamentally uphold the sanctity of elections.”