What is Liz Cheney's Net Worth?
Liz Cheney is an attorney and politician who has a net worth of $20 million. Liz Cheney served as the US representative for Wyoming from 2017 to 2023. The eldest daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, she held various positions in the US State Department under George W. Bush, during which time she established a reputation as a staunch neoconservative. Cheney achieved a new level of recognition in 2021 when she served as vice chair of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack on the US Capitol.
Early Life and Education
Liz Cheney was born on July 28, 1966 in Madison, Wisconsin as the eldest of two daughters of Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney. Her sister is Mary. After Dick was elected to the US Congress in the 1970s, the family divided its time between Casper, Wyoming and Washington, DC. As a teenager, Cheney attended McLean High School, from which she graduated in 1984. She went on to attend Colorado College, and then the University of Chicago Law School, from which she obtained her Juris Doctor in 1996.
Career Beginnings
Before going to law school, Cheney worked for the State Department and the US Agency for International Development for five years. After that, she worked at the consulting firm Armitage Associates. Upon her graduation from law school, Cheney practiced law at the firm White & Case, and served as an international law attorney and consultant at the International Finance Corporation. She also served as a USAID officer in US embassies in Budapest, Hungary and Warsaw, Poland.
(Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
US State Department, 2002-2007
In 2002, Cheney was named Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs in the US State Department. As a result, she was given control of the Middle East Partnership Initiative. In 2003, Cheney left her post to work on the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign. She returned to the State Department in early 2005 and was named Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and Coordinator for Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiatives. Cheney oversaw the launches of Fund of the Future and Foundation of the Future, designed to promote democracy and freedom of the press. She also headed the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group. During her time in the State Department, Cheney became notorious for her neoconservative policies, including her focus on national security and her hawkish military stance.
Post-US State Department
After leaving the State Department, Cheney co-chaired Fred Thompson's 2008 presidential campaign. When he dropped out of the race, she joined Mitt Romney's campaign as a senior foreign policy advisor. In 2009, Cheney partnered with William Kristol and Deborah Burlingame to launch the non-profit organization Keep America Safe, which was intended to uphold the hawkish positions of the Bush-Cheney administration. Cheney went on to become a contributor to Fox News.
US Senate Campaign
In the summer of 2013, Cheney announced her campaign for the US Senate as a Wyoming Republican. Ultimately, her campaign was hobbled by her hawkish foreign policy views and her public spat with her sister over same-sex marriage, as her sister is lesbian. Moreover, Cheney couldn't match the popularity of incumbent Mike Enzi; consequently, she dropped out of the race in early 2014.
Liz Cheney official portrait (public domain)
US House of Representatives
Following the retirement of Wyoming congresswoman Cynthia Lummis in late 2015, Cheney announced her campaign for Lummis's House seat in early 2016. She ultimately won the seat with more than 60% of the vote. Cheney went on to win reelection in 2018 and 2020. She also served as the chair of the House Republican Conference from 2019 to 2021.
Despite predominantly voting in line with Donald Trump during the first five years of her tenure, Cheney eventually began opposing the president, especially after he instigated the January 6 insurrection on the US Capitol. Due to her anti-Trump stance, including her support of his second impeachment, the Freedom Caucus of the House Republican Conference attempted to remove her from party leadership in early 2021, but was unsuccessful. A second attempt later in the year worked, and Cheney was removed from her position. In further consequences of her involvement in the investigation of the Trump-led attack on the Capitol, her Wyoming Republican Party membership was revoked in late 2021, and she lost renomination in the US Senate race to Harriet Hageman in 2022.
House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack
In the summer of 2021, Cheney was appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the bipartisan House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the US Capitol. She was eventually made vice chair of the Committee. As one of the central figures in reporting on the investigation, Cheney concluded that former president Donald Trump had instigated the attack by spreading false information about the 2020 election and summoning a mob of domestic terrorists to undermine the peaceful transition of power to Joe Biden's administration. The Committee recommended charging the former president on multiple counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and attempts to incite an insurrection.
Personal Life
Cheney married her husband, attorney Philip Perry, in 1993. They have five children: Philip Jr., Kate, Elizabeth, Grace, and Richard.
