Liz Cheney, daughter of former VP, running for U.S. Senate in Wyoming

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, will run against Wyoming's senior U.S. senator in next year's Republican primary, her campaign said Tuesday.

Her announcement is a political challenge unlike anything Wyoming has seen for years -- maybe decades.

Republicans in the state rarely challenge incumbents of their own party in national office. All three members of the state's congressional delegation and all statewide elected officials are Republican.

Liz Cheney, 46, is the elder of the two Cheney daughters. Married with five children, she was a resident of Virginia until recently.

She and her husband bought a home last year in the posh northwest Wyoming community of Jackson Hole.

"I am running because I know, as a mother and a patriot, we can no longer afford simply to go along to get along. We can't continue business as usual in Washington," Cheney said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Enzi on Tuesday announced his bid for a fourth term. He made the announcement more than six months earlier in the political cycle than he has in the past.

Enzi said he would continue to "do the job I was already elected to do."

"Working behind the scenes -- this is what I have been doing since I was elected and this is what needs to be done," he said by email.

Enzi immediately won the endorsement of colleagues in the Senate, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

"Our support will be there for Mike," said the committee's chairman, Republican Sen. Jerry Moran.

The race promises to be hard-fought. Enzi has had few serious Democratic challengers -- much less Republican ones -- since he was first elected to the Senate in 1996. He remains well-liked around the state as an affable former shoe salesman and mayor of the coal-mining city of Gillette.

Enzi takes pride in keeping a lower profile and remaining much less partisan than most of his colleagues. He often refers to his "80-20" rule -- that opposing parties usually can agree on 80 percent of the details of any given issue -- as a model for Republicans and Democrats to work together.

He handily won re-election in 2008 with more than 75 percent of the vote.

Cheney's interest in the seat has been an open secret for months, dating back at least to last year's purchase of a home in Wilson, a community in Jackson Hole, that was listed for $1.9 million.

She appeared onstage with her father at last year's state Republican Party convention. It was Dick Cheney's first public appearance since he underwent a heart transplant, and father and daughter have been working on a book together.

Since then, Liz Cheney has made frequent appearances at county-level Republican events in virtually every corner of the state. She also has been in the national public eye as a Fox News political commentator.

The news release from her campaign did not specify why she decided to challenge a fellow Republican, nor did it offer any direct criticism of Enzi. She did not immediately return a telephone call requesting comment.

A Wyoming political veteran, Chris Rothfuss, said her candidacy may be a sign of the divisions that have roiled the national Republican Party for several years, with GOP officeholders being challenged from within their own party if they are seen as too willing to compromise with Democrats.

The Democratic state lawmaker, who lost to Enzi in 2008, said Liz Cheney's challenge reflects "everything that's wrong" with partisanship in national politics.

"Mike's being attacked in this election because he's been traditionally willing to compromise and reach across the aisle in a manner that's unpopular with the partisan culture," he said.

"I would also say that the reason that Liz Cheney is running out of Wyoming rather than what in effect would be her home state of Virginia is because we're basically seen as a much cheaper option in trying to obtain a Senate seat. Obviously, it's an attempt to leverage her name recognition," said Rothfuss, a chemical engineer.

The Cheneys are well-established as a family with Wyoming roots -- an important qualification for anybody seeking major office in the state. Dick Cheney held the state's lone congressional seat in the 1970s and 1980s before he moved up the political ladder.

While Liz Cheney was born in Madison, Wis., her announcement release pointed out that the Cheney family has roots that go back more than 100 years in Wyoming.

Ahead of Tuesday's announcements, Enzi has refused to be critical of the prospect of a Cheney challenge. He said Liz Cheney earlier told him she would run if he chose not to seek re-election in 2014.

"I'm not going to comment on her," Enzi said. "My job is to do what the people of Wyoming expect me to do."

In a show of unity, he and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., walked off the Senate floor together Tuesday. Barrasso praised Enzi as his "friend and mentor."

Cheney's challenge of Enzi promises to make many Wyoming Republicans uncomfortable because they will be forced into choosing between two popular figures.

Former Wyoming Sen. Al Simpson, an often frank and witty observer of state and national politics, said Tuesday he couldn't comment on what the race would mean for the Wyoming Republican Party.

"Right now, I have nothing to say at all except one thing, I deeply care about both of them, and that's all I have to say," said Simpson, a Republican.

Cheney holds a law degree from the University of Chicago and has worked as a lawyer for the State Department and the Agency for International Development.