Cheney breaks ranks as former GOP Vice President endorses Kamala Harris for 2024

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, a stalwart figure in the Republican Party, has announced his decision to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming November 5 election. Cheney, who served under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009, cited former President Donald Trump as the driving factor behind his endorsement.

“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney declared in a statement on Friday. The former vice president condemned Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, accusing him of using “lies and violence” to remain in power.

Cheney’s criticism of Trump is not new, but his explicit support for Harris marks a dramatic departure from Republican loyalty. He emphasized the need for citizens to prioritize the country over partisanship, adding, “That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”

This endorsement follows in the footsteps of Cheney’s daughter, Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, who has been one of the most vocal critics of Trump. Liz Cheney co-chaired the congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, further solidifying her break from Trump-aligned Republicans.

Trump, quick to respond, dismissed the Cheneys as “irrelevant RINOs” on his social media platform, Truth Social, using his trademark term, “Republicans in Name Only.”

Harris’s campaign team welcomed the endorsement. Jen O’Malley Dillon, Harris’s campaign chair, said the vice president “deeply respects [Cheney’s] courage to put country over party.” Harris herself responded positively, expressing her gratitude for the support while on the campaign trail in Pittsburgh. “It’s okay, if not important, to put the country above party,” she remarked, reinforcing her message of bipartisan unity.

As Cheney’s bold move reverberates across political lines, other prominent Republicans have also signaled their rejection of Trump. Figures like Senator Mitt Romney and former Vice President Mike Pence have indicated that they, too, will not support Trump’s candidacy, though they have not endorsed Harris.

With Cheney’s announcement, the rift within the Republican Party deepens, raising questions about the extent of GOP unity heading into the 2024 election.