Liz Cheney

Elizabeth Lynne Cheney (born July 28, 1966) is an American attorney and politician.

Elizabeth Lynne Cheney was born on July 28, 1966, in Madison, Wisconsin, making her a member of Generation X.

She is the elder of two daughters of former vice president Dick Cheney and former Second Lady Lynne Cheney (née Vincent).

At the time of her birth, her parents were studying at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Her younger sister, Mary Cheney, was also born in Madison.

Cheney attended part of sixth and seventh grade in Casper, Wyoming, while her father campaigned for Congress.

The family divided its time between Casper and Washington, D.C., in the 1970s through the 1980s, following her father's election to Congress.

In the House of Representatives, she held the same seat her father had held from 1979 to 1989.

Regarded as a leading ideological conservative in the Bush–Cheney tradition and a representative of the Republican establishment, Cheney is known for her pro-business stance, focus on national security, support for the U.S. military, and hawkish foreign policy views.

She was once considered one of the leaders of the Republican Party's neoconservative wing, and was critical of the foreign policy of the Donald Trump administration while consistently voting in favor of Trump's overall agenda.

Cheney supported the second impeachment of Donald Trump for his role in the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Because of her stance on the Capitol riot, her impeachment vote, and her opposition to Trump's false stolen-election narrative, pro-Trump Freedom Caucus members of the House Republican Conference twice attempted to remove her from party leadership.

With House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy supporting her removal, Cheney was removed from her position in May 2021.

In July 2021, Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed Cheney to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

Two months later, she was made vice chair of the committee.

As a consequence of her service on the Select Committee, Cheney's membership in the Wyoming Republican Party was revoked in November 2021.

She was censured by the Republican National Committee (RNC) in February 2022.

On August 16, 2022, Cheney lost renomination in Wyoming's Republican primary to Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman in a landslide, garnering just 28.9% of the vote.

Cheney has said that she intends to be "the leader, one of the leaders, in a fight to help to restore" the Republican Party, and that she may be interested in a presidential run.

In 1984 Cheney graduated from McLean High School in suburban Washington, D.C., where she was a cheerleader.

She received her BA from Colorado College, her mother's alma mater, where she wrote a senior thesis entitled "The Evolution of Presidential War Powers."

Before attending law school, Cheney worked for the State Department for five years and the United States Agency for International Development between 1989 and 1993.

After 1993, she took a job at Armitage Associates LLP, the consulting firm founded by Richard Armitage, then a former Defense Department official and later the Deputy Secretary of State.

After graduation from law school, Cheney practiced law at the law firm of White & Case and as an international law attorney and consultant at the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group.

She was also special assistant to the deputy secretary of state for assistance to the former Soviet Union, and a USAID officer in U.S. embassies in Budapest and Warsaw.

She received her JD from the University of Chicago Law School in 1996.

While there, she also took courses in Middle Eastern history at the Oriental Institute.

In 2002, Cheney was appointed deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, a preexisting vacant post with an "economic portfolio", a mandate to promote investment in the region.

Amid reports, including a New York Times op-ed piece by Paul Krugman, that the job was created especially for her, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that she had come recommended by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The Sunday Times reported that Cheney's appointment was "the most intriguing sign that America is getting serious about Middle East reform" and "a measure of the seriousness with which the administration was taking Middle East programmes for literacy, education, and reform."

The appointment followed publicized policy divisions between the Vice President's office and the State Department on Middle East policy.

In that position, she was given control of the Middle East Partnership Initiative, designed to "foster increased democracy and economic progress in a troubled region".

In 2009, Cheney and Bill Kristol founded Keep America Safe, a nonprofit organization concerned with national security issues that supported the Bush–Cheney administration's positions.

She was a candidate for the 2014 election to the U.S. Senate in Wyoming, challenging three-term incumbent Mike Enzi before withdrawing from the race.

She represented WY's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2017 to 2023, and served as chair of the House Republican Conference—the third-highest position in the House Republican leadership—from 2019 to 2021.

Cheney is known for her vocal opposition to former President Donald Trump.

As of March 2023, she is a professor of practice at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Cheney is the elder daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney and second lady Lynne Cheney.

She held several positions in the U.S. State Department during the George W. Bush administration, including the position of deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and coordinator for broader Middle East and North Africa initiatives.

She promoted regime change in Iran while chairing the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group with Elliott Abrams.