JACKSON, Wyo. — Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., a onetime House GOP leader and a daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was ousted in a Republican primary Tuesday night, NBC News projects.

Former President Donald Trump’s name wasn’t on the ballot, but his shadow eclipsed the contest as he sought revenge for Cheney’s vote last year to impeach him and her work on the committee investigating his behavior leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. His hand-picked challenger, Harriet Hageman, defeated Cheney in a multi-candidate race.

Speaking to supporters here at length about Trump and the events of Jan. 6, Cheney acknowledged that she had lost. She said she had called Hageman to concede while seeming to draw a contrast with Trump, who refuses to admit he lost the 2020 election and continues to perpetuate the lie that a second term was stolen from him. She also hinted that she is not done in politics.

“This primary election is over,” Cheney said. “But now the real work begins.”

With her parents sitting in the audience, Cheney noted that she won her primary two years ago with more than 70 % of the vote and could have done the same Tuesday night if she adhered to Trump’s election lies.

“That was a path I could not and would not take,” she said.

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