Liz Cheney rips into Republican voters, leadership as 'very sick' after landslide primary loss

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Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming called "large portions" of the Republican Party "very sick" in an interview recapping her failed bid to stay in office.

Cheney, asked by ABC News what she thought her loss said about the Republican Party, said it signified former President Donald Trump's stranglehold on the party.

"It says that clearly [Trump's] hold is very strong among some portions of the Republican Party. My state of Wyoming is not necessarily a representative sample of the party," Cheney said. 

Wyoming is one of the reddest states in the union.

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Cheney continued, "I think it says a couple of things. I think it says people continue to believe the lie. They continue to believe what he's saying, which is dangerous." 

Rep. Liz Cheney looks on during her primary election night party in Jackson, Wyoming, Aug. 16, 2022.   (REUTERS/David Stubbs)

Cheney has been the most prominent Republican critic of Trump since he left office. She has used her position on the Jan. 6 House select committee to lambast Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

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Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman defeated Cheney by 37 points on Tuesday.

"I think it also tells you that large portions of our party, including the leadership of our party, is very sick," she claimed.

Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman speaks during her primary election night party in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Aug. 16, 2022. (REUTERS/Eli Imadali)

Cheney will need some of those voters if she decides to run for president in 2024, as she has said she is thinking about doing.

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Republican Party leader McCarthy said earlier this week that he believes he’ll be the next speaker of the House.

"I believe so. We’ll win the majority and I’ll be speaker. Yes," McCarthy said in an exclusive interview with Fox News on Monday as he pointed toward the likely regaining of the House majority by the GOP in November’s midterm elections.

Cheney, however, doesn't think he should be. 

"I don't believe he should be speaker of the House and I think that's been very clear," she said.