After Humiliating Liz Cheney, Rep. Harriet Hageman Leaves Door Open To Run For Governor

Wyoming’s at-large congresswoman, Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman, brushed aside a question this month on whether she plans to run for governor in 2026 but did not say no. During an Oct. 19 interview on the Cowboy State Politics podcast, host David Iverson asked Hageman, “Harriet, are you going to run for governor?”

“I am flattered at the number of people who have talked to me about this, and it’s something that requires an awful lot of thought,” Hageman said. “Right now what we need to focus on is, we need to focus on getting Donald Trump elected in November.”

The freshman lawmaker who replaced disgraced three-term Rep. Liz Cheney in 2022 went on to emphasize the kind of governor Wyoming will need if Vice President Kamala Harris clinches the Oval Office next week.

“If Kamala Harris for some odd, strange, complete out-of-left field [reason] were to be elected as president, we’re going to have to have a governor that can fight tooth and nail even more than we have ever done throughout the history of this state,” Hageman said. “On the other hand, if we are fortunate and Donald Trump is elected, he’s going to need an ally.”

Hageman, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018, maintained that “right now, my focus is on representing everyone in the state of Wyoming in Congress.” Whether she would run again for state executive, she said, is “just a question for a later time.”

Hageman is on the ballot for a second term this November after ousting the incumbent Cheney, who was the number-three in House leadership as chair of the Republican conference. Cheney was dethroned from GOP leadership just months into what became her final term after expanding a feud with former President Donald Trump for praise in legacy media.

Cheney’s frequent efforts to chastise the ex-president became a distraction from House Republicans’ efforts to reclaim the majority in the 2022 midterms, and she was ultimately recruited by House Democrats for steering the partisan Select Committee on Jan. 6.

As Cheney continued to antagonize former President Trump and his supporters, Wyoming voters began to disaffiliate her from the Republican Party. Cheney overwhelmingly lost a re-election primary to Hageman, who had run with endorsements from both Trump and then-House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.

In Congress, Hageman has advocated for constituents on the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. Last year, Hageman championed legislation to delist grizzly bears from the Endangered Species List in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems after the animals more than doubled their recovery goals. Hageman also worked to defund “ecogrief” sessions held by the Fish and Wildlife Service to offer federal employees training to cope with their emotions about climate change.

As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Hageman participated in the House GOP’s questioning of Hunter Biden and served on the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan's email newsletter here.