Liz Cheney on Thursday staunchly defended her nascent bid to win a Senate seat from Wyoming – batting back suggestions that she's a "carpetbagger" and "housewife who’s kind of bored."
"I am a fourth-generation Wyomingite," the former Fox News commentator, state department official, and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney told
The Hill two days after announcing she’d challenge longtime Sen. Mike Enzi in a Republican primary next year.
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"My family first came here in 1825, walking the Mormon Trail in search of religious freedom. My great-grandfather settled here in 1907. Wyoming has always been home."
Earlier Thursday, GOP strategist Ed Rollins told The Hill there’s skepticism about her political aspirations in the Wyoming race.
"I like Liz, I've been a longtime friend of her father's, but it'll be portrayed as they've been away from the state a long time, a housewife who's kind of bored who moved back to Wyoming after a long time to run for the Senate," Rollins said.
"Unfortunately for Liz, that's not a state like California or New York where you can carpetbag very easily, and even though she was born there she hasn't been there for a long time."
He said he wished she’d picked a different race.
"It's two good people," he said. "I wish she was running somewhere else, I'd like to see her in the Senate."
But Cheney insisted she’s in the race for all the right reasons.
"In my experience, people who launch the carpetbagger charge do so to avoid talking about issues and substance," she said. "I intend to run a campaign worthy of the people of Wyoming, focused on policy and how we can defend the values that have made this state and nation great."
She apparently faces an uphill battle.
In an editorial,
The News Record of Gillette, Wyo., said, "Hey, Liz Cheney: If you want to run for U.S. Senate, try it from Virginia or some other state."
Meanwhile, Enzi fought off claims from Cheney, 46, that it was time for a "new generation."
"I'm absolutely not too old to be senator. I'm the median age," Enzi, 69, told
CNN a day after the stunning announcement.
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The average age of senators at the start of the 113th Congress was 62 years, according to the Congressional Research Service.