Liz Cheney lands gig with University of Virginia as she mulls 2024 run

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has accepted an appointment to serve as a professor at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, the school announced on Wednesday. 

The staunch critic of former President Donald Trump lost her 2022 re-election bid after being ousted in the state’s Republican primary by Harriet Hageman, who was endorsed by the ex-commander in chief.

Cheney has previously stated that she is considering a possible presidential run in 2024. 

“I look forward to working with students and colleagues at the Center to advance the important work they and others at the University of Virginia are doing to improve the health of democracy here and around the world,” Cheney said in a press release. 

“There are many threats facing our system of government and I hope my work with the Center for Politics and the broader community at the University of Virginia will contribute to finding lasting solutions that not only preserve but strengthen our democracy,” she added. 

Her duties as “Professor of Practice” at the Charlottesville, Va., institution will include giving university-wide lectures, serving as a guest lecturer in student seminars and participating in research. 

Cheney’s appointment is effective immediately and runs through the fall semester of 2023, with options to renew for additional years. 

“Our students will have an incredible opportunity to learn from Liz Cheney, who has fiercely defended democracy as part of a distinguished career. I’m delighted that she has chosen the University of Virginia and the Center for Politics as a next step, and I very much look forward to working with her,” UVA President Jim Ryan said in a statement. 

Cheney represented Wyoming’s at-large congressional district from 2017 to 2023. 

She clashed with Trump and party leadership during the final days of his administration. 

In January 2021, she voted in favor of Trump’s second impeachment after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. 

By May of that year, she was out of favor with most Republicans and was removed from her post as Republican Conference chairwoman, the third-highest position in the GOP Conference, for her criticism of Trump. 

In September 2021, Cheney was named vice chairwoman of the House Jan. 6 committee – joining then-Rep.

Adam Kinzinger (D-Ill.) as the only other Republican on the panel investigating Trump’s actions on the day his supporters stormed the Capitol Building in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. 

On several occasions, Cheney has said that she plans to do “whatever it takes” to ensure Trump doesn’t serve a second term in the White House. 

After her defeat by Hageman, Cheney formed a political action committee called “The Great Task” that intends to oppose Trump’s efforts to reclaim the presidency. 

Running for president in 2024 “is something that I am thinking about,” she told NBC’s “Today” last August.