Defectors Liz Cheney and Tulsi Gabbard face off in US midterms showdown

An eye-catching race pits Republican Liz Cheney, now backing Democrats, against former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who now stands with the pro-Trump right.

Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat candidate in Michigan, receives the backing of Liz Cheney at a campaign event. Picture: Getty Images

Liz Cheney, a prominent Republican ostracised for opposing former President Donald Trump, has crossed party lines to endorse Democrats fighting against rivals who reject the results of the 2020 election.

In a battle of party renegades, Republicans opposed by Ms Cheney are in turn receiving support from Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic presidential candidate who left the party last month.

Ms Cheney and Ms Gabbard are campaigning against one another in some of the most eye-catching races of the US mid-term elections on Tuesday when Republicans are forecast to gain control of congress.

The showdown represents a sea change for both women: one a conservative member of the Republican establishment whose father was vice-president to George W. Bush now supporting liberal Democrats, the other a former champion of the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders appearing alongside new darlings of the pro-Trump right.

“For almost 40 years now, I’ve been voting Republican,” Ms Cheney, 56, said during an event at Arizona State University. “I don’t know if I have ever voted for a Democrat, but if I lived in Arizona now, I absolutely would for governor and for secretary of state.”

She urged voters to reject Kari Lake, a former local Fox News presenter and staunch backer of Mr Trump’s unproven claims of election fraud, who is slightly ahead in polling to become the next governor of Arizona.

Ms Cheney’s political action committee, the Great Task, spent $US500,000 ($795,000) on an advertisement in Arizona saying: “If you care about the survival of our republic, we cannot give people power who will not honour elections.”

In the Nevada Senate race, the Republican candidate Adam Laxalt has the support of Tulsi Gabbard, who once championed the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders. Picture: The Mega Agency/The Times

Shortly afterwards, Ms Lake received Ms Gabbard’s endorsement and a visit from the former Hawaii congresswoman.

Gabbard tweeted: “Kari Lake is a leader who puts people first, is fighting for border security, energy independence, public safety, and other policies that actually make life better and more affordable for the American people.”

And on Wednesday, Ms Gabbard appeared at a rally in Sioux Falls for Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who is being challenged by Democrat representative, Jamie Smith. Ms Gabbard brought a personal touch to her speech. The two served together in the House of Representatives and met at the gym.

“The threats to our freedoms right now are not coming from foreign countries, they’re coming from leaders in Washington who are abusing their power and seeking to undermine our fundamental values and rights that are enshrined in the Constitution,” Ms Gabbard told attendees about why she left the party.

South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem has been endorsed by Tulsi Gabbard. Picture: Twitter

Ms Cheney this week backed Tim Ryan, a Democratic former congressman trying to win a Senate seat in Ohio against Trump-endorsed JD Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy, who maintains that the 2020 election was unfair.

On the same day, Gabbard tweeted: “Tim Ryan represents everything that is wrong with the warmongering Washington Establishment. I’m endorsing @JDVance1 because he knows the cost of war, and that our government exists to serve the people, not the other way around.”

This week Ms Cheney appeared in the swing state of Michigan alongside Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat first elected in the party’s “blue wave” election of 2018 in a seat seen as a bellwether of this year’s election.

“I have come to know Elissa as a good and honourable public servant who works hard for the people she represents, wants what’s best for the country and is in this for the right reasons,” Ms Cheney said.

In response Ms Gabbard released a video alongside Ms Slotkin’s Republican opponent, saying: “I’m here and really proud to support fellow veteran Tom Barrett, who’s stepping up to serve and lead our country in a time of need in congress … I know firsthand that a vote for Slotkin is a vote for more war.”

Obama heckled

Barack Obama at the campaign even in Arizona. Picture: AFP

Barack Obama was heckled during a speech in Arizona as he warned that “democracy as we know it may not survive” if pro-Trump Republicans win in an echo of Mr Biden’s own message to voters.

The former US leader said Republicans wanted “an economy that’s very good for folks at the very top but not always so good for ordinary people” when a young man interrupted, shouting: “Like you, Obama!”

The heckler was removed and Mr Obama said: “This is part of what happens in our politics these days, we get distracted. You got one person yelling and suddenly everybody’s yelling. You get one tweet that’s stupid and suddenly everybody’s obsessed with the tweet. We can’t fall for that. We have to stay focused.”

The Times