Trump critic Rep. Liz Cheney faces long odds in Wyoming as Sarah Palin vies for Alaska comeback

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) faces long odds to keep her seat Tuesday in a Wyoming GOP primary dominated by her harsh criticism of former President Donald Trump.

Polls say Cheney, who is vice chair of the Democratic-led committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, has little chance of fending off a pro-Trump challenge by Harriet Hageman in the overwhelmingly GOP state.

In Alaska, onetime Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is vying to fill an open seat in Congress and mount a comeback after a decade on the political sidelines.

Cheney, a onetime rising GOP star, has won praise from those who see Trump as a threat to American democracy.

But with Trump still firmly in control of the GOP, that criticism has cost her most of her support in ruby-red Wyoming and threatened to end her career in Congress.

[ Ex-veep Dick Cheney calls Trump ‘coward’ in ad for daughter Rep. Liz Cheney ]

Cheney has been forced to plead for crossover support from minority Democrats and rely on endorsements from establishment Republicans like her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has assailed Trump as the biggest threat to American democracy in history.

Even if Cheney loses her primary as expected, she will remain in office till the end of the year and will keep her spot on the Jan. 6 committee till then.

She has refused to rule out mounting a #NeverTrump independent presidential campaign, a move that would be designed to siphon some conservative votes away from Trump if he runs as expected.

[ Liz Cheney: We cannot become nation of conspiracy theories ]

Palin, meanwhile, is seeking to win a special election for the seat held by Rep. Don Young (R-Ala.), who died recently. She is also running in a crowded open primary to fill the same seat for the next two-year term.

The elections will both be held under Alaska’s new open primary and ranked voting system that voters approved in 2020.

Palin is vying to win the special election against fellow Republican Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola. A fourth candidate pulled out of the race after the special primary.

The winner will be determined using ranked-choice voting, meaning the preference votes of the third place candidate may determine the winner.

The ex-governor and running mate of Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid will also compete against a slew of candidates, including Begich and Peltola

The top four vote-getters advancing to the November general election, regardless of party affiliation.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a critic of Trump like Cheney, is seeking reelection to a seat she has held for nearly 20 years.

Murkowski faces 18 opponents — the most prominent of which is Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who has been endorsed by Trump.

The ranked-choice system is considered likely to help Murkowski over Tshibaka because Democrats and independents may pick her as their second choice.

The former president has railed against Murkowski, including at a rally with Tshibaka and Palin last month in Anchorage.