Liz Cheney on Monday officially
abandoned her challenge to unseat Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi in the
upcoming Republican primary.
“Serious health issues have recently
arisen in our family, and under the circumstances, I have decided to
discontinue my campaign,” Cheney, the daughter of former vice
president Dick Cheney, said in a statement.
“Though this campaign stops today, my
commitment to keep fighting with you and your families for the
fundamental values that have made this nation and Wyoming great will
never stop,” she added.
Two polls released last year showed
Cheney trailing the incumbent Enzi by a wide margin.
Cheney's Senate bid, announced last
summer, was marred by her very public dispute on the issue of gay
marriage with her openly gay sister, Mary Cheney.
The family feud came to a head in
November, when Liz Cheney said during a Fox News Sunday
appearance that she loves her sister but doesn't support her
marriage.
Mary Cheney's wife Heather
Poe responded on Facebook: “I was watching my sister-in-law on
Fox News Sunday (yes Liz, in fifteen states and the District
of Columbia you are my sister-in-law) and was very disappointed to
hear her say 'I do believe in the traditional definition of
marriage.' Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and
shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in
2012 – she didn't hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us. To
have her now say she doesn't support our right to marry is offensive
to say the least. I can't help but wonder how Liz would feel if as
she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was
protected in one but not the other. I always thought freedom meant
freedom for EVERYONE.”
Mary
Cheney added: “Couldn't have said it better myself. Liz –
this isn't just an issue on which we disagree – you're just wrong –
and on the wrong side of history.”
Speaking to a group in Indianapolis
working to derail a proposed marriage ban in Indiana, Mary
Cheney argued that marriage equality is a conservative value.