Welcome to the dispatch podcast. I'm your host Sarah Isger joined by Steve Hayes. And

this week we are talking to Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the former number three in the

Republican caucus as the vote is occurring to pick her replacement.

Let's dive in Congresswoman. Thank you so much for joining us. And in person, this is

our first in-person interview and so, so long. What a treat.

Did you vote this morning? And who'd you vote for?

I did not vote this morning. And I do not know yet what the results are, but we will see.

Elise DeFonek was elected as the number three by a pretty overwhelming vote. Over 130

members voted for her, you know, 30 to 40 voted for Chip Roy. Given that, what do you

think the message for Republicans should be heading into the 2022 elections?

Well, look, I have always, over the course of the last several months, been very clear

about, I think this is a much bigger set of issues than about who's in leadership among

the House Republicans. And I think that for us going into 22 and into 24, the election

has got to be about truth. It's got to be about building a party that brings back the

voters that we lost in 2020, that we aren't going to be able to convince people to come

back to us, to support us, to help us to be able to convey the policies that we know

are right for the country. If we continue to be drug backwards, continue to be complicit

in the lies the former president is telling about the election and about our process as

a whole.

So you think that that should be part of the conversation on the campaign trail, not

Joe Biden's policies, not sort of drawing that distinction with the other party, but actually

sort of having this internal family conversation as serious as it is with voters.

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