Donald Trump Jr.'s Bid To Oust Liz Cheney Rejected By Wyoming Senate

The state senate of Wyoming has rejected a bill pushed by Donald Trump Jr. that would increase pressure on Rep. Liz Cheney.

Cheney has been a target of the alt-right since speaking against President Donald Trump during his impeachment proceedings, which has his son making rounds to cut off her chances of reelection, CNN noted.

The bill was meant to introduce runoffs to Wyoming’s electoral process, changing the conditions for victory from simply receiving the most votes to achieving more than 50% of the total votes.

In a potentially crowded field, that would complicate things for the embattled representative. State lawmakers Anthony Bouchard and Chuck Gray have already announced bids to challenge Cheney for her seat.

“Wyoming deserves the ability to choose between the two best candidates for office,” Gray told CNN. "Liz Cheney's betrayal of our Wyoming values is a clear indicator that runoff elections are needed. It is no wonder that her team is working behind the scenes to kill this legislation."

Fealty and betrayal are the refrains of Wyoming’s debate, a reflection of the broader civil war in the Republican party.

Trump Jr. explicitly referenced loyalty to his father while advocating for the bill.

"Any Republican in Wyoming who does Liz Cheney's bidding and opposes SF145 is turning their back on my father and the entire America First movement," he posted on Twitter.

Cheney denied allegations that she had intervened to kill the bill. While in committee, the proposal was altered so that it wouldn’t take effect until 2023.

A co-sponsor, Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, told CNN that attention from major conservatives hadn’t been helpful.

"When national Republican politics comes to Wyoming, it further divides and creates those same difficulties for us," he said. "Now all of a sudden, the bill will be seen as 'Are you a Trump loyalist or not?' These weird purity tests will start being thrown around and it's just more divisiveness that we don't need in the Republican party or in Wyoming.”