Trump-backed Cheney primary challenger Hageman hauls in over $1.3 million past three months

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EXCLUSIVE: Harriet Hageman, the leading Republican candidate challenging Rep. Liz Cheney as Wyoming’s at-large member of the House runs for re-election this year, reports that she’s raked in over $1.3 million during the January-March first quarter of fundraising.

Hageman’s haul the past three months, which was shared first with Fox News on Thursday, brings over $2 million the amount she’s raised since launching her congressional campaign last September. And Hageman, who’s backed by former President Donald Trump, reports having over $1 million cash on hand in her coffers as of the end of March.

“It is an honor to have such support and I pledge to always reflect the views and values of the people of Wyoming when I am in Congress,” Hageman said in a statement. “This is Wyoming’s seat in the House, not one individual’s.”

Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman speaks with voters at an Albany County GOP breakfast in Laramie, Wyoming, on Jan. 8, 2022
(Harriet hageman congressional campaign)

Cheney, who’s yet to announce her first quarter figures, brought in over $7 million in fundraising last year, and entered the new year with a formidable war chest of $4.72 million cash on hand. Federal candidates have until April 15 to file their campaign cash numbers with the Federal Election Commission.

Cheney, a longtime vocal GOP Trump critic, was the most senior of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the then-president on a charge of inciting the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists and other Trump supporters, some of who allegedly aimed to disrupt congressional certification of now-President Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.

Cheney, who’s the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, immediately came under verbal attack from Trump and his allies, and last May was ousted from her number-three House GOP leadership position.

Cheney, who’s been very vocal in emphasizing the importance of defending the nation’s democratic process and of putting country before party, is one of only two Republicans serving on a special select committee organized by House Democrats to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.
( AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Trump, stepping up his efforts to oust Cheney from Congress, endorsed Hageman as she entered the race. And the former president and his allies successfully urged some, but not all, of the other anti-Cheney candidates to drop out of the primary and coalesce around Hageman.

Hageman, a Wyoming native and a 2018 gubernatorial candidate, was a former Cheney supporter and adviser who donated to the three-term congresswoman’s past campaigns. Hageman, a conservative lawyer who’s fought for water, land and property rights, noted that she’s received over 21,000 donations since the start of the campaign, and that the average donation in the first quarter was $84.

Her first quarter haul was boosted by three top dollar fundraisers on her behalf. They were a fundraiser in Miami hosted by PayPal co-founder and billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who’s a Trump ally, a fundraiser at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida hosted by Sen. Rand Paul – where Trump made an appearance – and a fundraiser in the nation’s capital headlined by House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Canyon Moon Ranch festival grounds in Florence, Arizona, southeast of Phoenix, on January 15, 2022.
(ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

Cheney’s also had a helping hand from some high-profile Republicans. Former President George W. Bush, and former Republican House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, have helped raise campaign cash for Cheney. And Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee and a vocal Republican Trump critic, headlined a fundraiser for Cheney last month.

Hageman’s political team noted that no non-incumbent Republican topped $1 million in the final quarter of last year and that only five GOP incumbents cracked that threshold – McCarthy ($3.7M), House Minority Whip Steve Scalise ($2.6M), Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas ($2.1M), Cheney ($2M), and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio ($1.4M).

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