Trump enemies Liz Cheney, Lisa Murkowski face GOP primary challengers

A billboard outside Cheyenne, Wyo., calls on voters to cast their ballots for Harriet Hageman, who is running against incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in the Republican primary election Aug. 16, 2022.

Two prominent congressional Republicans who made enemies of former President Donald Trump are going to defend their seats on Tuesday.

Liz Cheney is a frequent critic of the president. The once-high-ranking Republican lost her position in the party after she voted to impeach Trump.

The state of Alaska has a primary voting system that allows the top four candidates to continue on to the general election. Moderate politics will give her an advantage if she progresses past Tuesday.

Trump has flexed his power over the Republican Party to try to purge it of those who supported his second impeachment. Four of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump have decided to retire.

Cheney has not shied away from her impeachment vote in order to try to convince Republicans in her overwhelmingly pro- Trump state to keep her in congress.

Cheney frames her vocal opposition as a moral imperative that goes beyond the goal of political self preservation.

There has never been an individual who has posed a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.

The tactic has put Cheney at odds with a lot of the GOP, which stuck with Trump after the Capitol riot.

The mob believed the president's false claims that his loss to Biden was due to widespread fraud. Trump is spreading election conspiracy theories and making false claims about the election.

She is likely to lose her job because of Cheney's principled opposition to the Big Lie. The polls show that Hageman is ahead by double-digits. Trump has made false claims about the race.

Cheney's campaign raised more money than Hageman's. In a state that went 70% for Trump in 2020, Cheney's war chest is expected to fall short.

The daughter of a former vice president was the third-ranking Republican in the House.

Ranking member Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, questions U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore during the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Committee hearing on the FY2023 Forest Service budget in Dirksen Building on Wednesday, May 4, 2022.

One of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump over the Capitol riot is a different person than the others. The Senate needed a two-thirds vote to convict Trump after he was impeached.

The four leading candidates are moving on to the general election. One of the four slots is expected to go to Murkowski, who has held the seat since 2002 and faces a roster of 18 mostly little-known Republican primary candidates.

Ranked-choice voting will be used in the general election. The system was put in place just in time for Murkowski, who is not guaranteed to get the most votes in the primary.

Kelly Tshibaka was endorsed by Trump to take on Murkowski. Tshibaka has been endorsed by the Republican Party.

There are few polls of the Alaska race, and some experts say the state's public opinion surveys are notoriously unreliable, but the available results show that Murkowski and Tshibaka are in a close race.

As of late July, she had more than $5.3 million in cash on hand, compared to about $800,000 for Tshibaka.

The clearest picture of the race will be provided on Tuesday. In the 2010 Senate race, she lost the primary but won the general with a write-in campaign, becoming the first senator in more than 50 years to accomplish that.