Moderate Republicans buck Cheney, throw support behind Trump
Moderate Republicans broke heavily for President-elect Trump despite the efforts of opponents such as Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney.
Trump carried Republicans who didn’t identify as a "MAGA Republican" 74%-22% nationwide in Tuesday’s election, according to Fox News voter analysis.
The result comes as Vice President Kamala Harris spent much of the last few weeks of the campaign making an appeal to moderate Republicans, hoping to siphon off votes from members of the party who have typically attempted to distance themselves from Trump and his "Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement."
LIZ CHENEY ACKNOWLEDGES TRUMP'S VICTORY: 'WE HAVE A NEW PRESIDENT-ELECT'
At the center of Harris’ campaign to appeal to those Republicans was Cheney, a former GOP lawmaker who became infamous for having public clashes with Trump during his first term as president.
Cheney hit the trail with Harris in late October, including a three-state battleground tour in which Cheney stressed her opposition to Trump as a constitutional conservative.
"I would say, I don't know if anybody's more conservative than I am. And I understand the most conservative value there is to defend the Constitution," Cheney said during a stop in the battleground state of Michigan when explaining her opposition to the nominee of her own party.
Joining Cheney in the Republican movement to endorse Harris was her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, and former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake. Prominent Republicans such as former President George W. Bush and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, also declined to endorse Trump’s bid for president, though neither opted to offer an endorsement of Harris.
Nevertheless, Republican voters in battleground states who identified as not MAGA Republicans largely mirrored the national numbers, overwhelmingly throwing their support behind Trump.
Such voters broke for Trump in the largest numbers in Georgia, with 82% of non-MAGA Republicans supporting Trump compared to 16% who supported Harris.
Nevada saw the least support for Trump among members of the group in battleground states, with 68% of non-MAGA Republicans supporting Trump and 26% supporting Harris.
Cheney acknowledged the results of the election in a social media post Wednesday, calling for people to accept the results.
"Our nation’s democratic system functioned last night and we have a new President-elect. All Americans are bound, whether we like the outcome or not, to accept the results of our elections," Cheney said.
Representatives for Cheney did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.