Liz Cheney Backs Democrat Tim Ryan in Contested Ohio Senate Race

The controversial Republican also called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a "tremendous leader"

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) looks on during her primary election night party in Jackson, Wyo., on Aug. 16, 2022. (David Stubbs/Reuters)

Embattled Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has endorsed Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in Ohio’s tight U.S. Senate race.

Ryan is running against Republican candidate J.D. Vance, a lawyer and author known for his book “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Discussing the race, Cheney told PBS’s Judy Woodruff on Nov. 1, “I would not vote for J.D. Vance.”

Asked if she would support Ryan if she were an Ohio voter, Cheney responded, “I would.”

Cheney has been anathema among Republicans during the 117th Congress for her role on the Jan. 6 Committee, which other Republicans have described as little more than a “partisan witch hunt” directed against former President Donald Trump and his allies.

Ryan is the second Democrat to receive Cheney’s backing. On Oct. 27, the outgoing Wyoming lawmaker threw her support behind Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).

Cheney’s opposition to Vance is unsurprising in view of Vance’s relationship with President Donald Trump. Trump helped push Vance to victory in the crowded Ohio field with his endorsement.

Cheney has long been a virulent Trump critic, and led an effort by the Jan. 6 Committee to subpoena the former president in October.

A populist through and through, Vance has been outspoken in his support for Trump, who Vance has described as the “best president of my lifetime.”

Vance has also suggested that he disagrees with the narrative pushed about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally by the House Jan. 6 committee, on which Cheney serves as ranking member.

The Jan. 6 panel contends that there was no substantial widespread voter fraud in 2020, and that the Jan. 6 rally was the culmination of a months-long effort by Trump to overturn the 2020 election.

“There were certainly people voting illegally on a large-scale basis,” Vance has said of the election in the past.

Vance’s campaign is referring to the endorsement not as a boon but as a “kiss of death” for Tim Ryan’s campaign.

In an email to the Epoch Times, Vance told the Epoch Times, “This election will be decided by Ohioans, not creatures of the swamp in D.C.

“Liz Cheney’s endorsement is the kiss of death for Tim Ryan and will lose him far more votes than it gains.”

At the same time, Vance’s campaign has won bipartisan support.

Former presidential candidate and Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) has thrown her backing behind Vance.

“Tim Ryan represents everything that is wrong with the warmongering Washington Establishment,” Gabbard wrote in a surprise Twitter post on Nov. 1. “I’m endorsing @JDVance1 because he knows the cost of war, and that our government exists to serve the people, not the other way around.”

Pelosi Is a ‘Tremendous Leader’

Cheney also called Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) a “tremendous leader.”

“I want to say a word about Speaker Pelosi. Everyone knows she is a liberal from San Francisco—I am a conservative from Wyoming, there are many, many issues, maybe most issues, on which we disagree,” Cheney said. “But I think that she is a tremendous leader.”

“I’ve watched her up close. She is a leader of historic consequence,” Cheney added.

In February, the Republican National Committee voted to strip Cheney, along with Jan. 6 panel compatriot Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) of the support and funding of the national party organization.

In early October, Kinzinger also unveiled a list of Democrat endorsees, mostly for state-level offices.

Though Kinzinger had already decided not to run again, Cheney mounted an ultimately unsuccessful bid to keep her place as Wyoming’s only federal representative.

Vance will face off against Tim Ryan on Nov. 8 to replace outgoing Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). The race is viewed as key in determining the makeup of the closely split U.S. Senate during the 2022 midterms.