Minnesotans have donated more than $280,000 to the campaign of Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who was fighting for her political survival Tuesday in a heated primary race against a Trump-backed opponent.
Minnesota donations for the three-term Republican — ranging from $5 to $5,800 — have poured in over the past two years from both Republicans and Democrats, business owners, companies big and small, and Native American tribes.
Cheney voted to impeach Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and has taken a lead role in the select committee in Washington investigating the president's role in what happened that day. Her opposition to Trump has put her in a precarious position with her own party, with polls showing her trailing her top primary opponent, Harriet Hageman, an attorney endorsed by Trump. Cheney was preparing herself for a loss ahead of the primary.
But her party-bucking positions have risen her profile nationally, helping her raise an unusually high $15 million in her race for re-election.
"A lot of the other people who stood up to him didn't even run," said former Hormel Foods CEO Jeff Ettinger, who donated $1,000 to Cheney's primary effort in November 2021. "They just kind of gave in basically, and so I admired that she was willing to take on the race and proceed and see what the voters had to say."
Ettinger, a Democratic candidate for southern Minnesota's First District in Congress, said, "I just felt that she deserved some support for the fact that she stood up to [Trump]."
Diane Hofstede, a former DFL Minneapolis City Council member, has watched much of the Jan. 6 committee hearings and describes Cheney as a "breath of fresh air." She gave her $2,500.....
....Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has risen in popularity with Democrats as her approval rating among Republicans has tanked. In the recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, Cheney had a 60% favorability rating with Democrats, but only 13% of Republicans approved of her.
