July 16, 2013 03:55 PM UTC

Liz Cheney to Run for U.S. Senate in Wyoming

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• by: Colorado Pols

Interesting news today for our northerly neighbors. As the Washington Post reports:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter Liz Cheney will run against Wyoming’s senior U.S. senator in next year’s Republican primary, her campaign said Tuesday.

Cheney, 46, is the elder of Dick Cheney’s two daughters. Her announcement is a political challenge unlike anything Wyoming has seen for years, maybe decades — Republicans in the state rarely challenge incumbents in national office. All three members of the state’s congressional delegation and all statewide elected officials are Republican.

Incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi also announced today that he plans to seek re-election in 2014, and as the Post notes, it sets up the first major challenge of a Republican incumbent in Wyoming in, well, a long time. Cheney's candidacy could set up a new debate about gay rights in Wyoming; her sister, Mary Cheney, is a lesbian whose sexual preference became big news when father Dick Cheney became George W. Bush's running mate in 2000. Mary Cheney married her longtime partner last June in Washington D.C.