Liz Cheney says 2022 midterm elections were a 'rejection' of Trump and a 'victory for team normal'

• GOP Rep. Liz Cheney is a fierce critic of former President Donald Trump.
• On Thursday she said the 2022 midterm elections marked a "victory for team normal," reports said.

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said Thursday that the 2022 midterm elections marked a "rejection" of former President Donald Trump and a "victory for team normal."

Speaking at an Anti-Defamation League event, Cheney ⁠— a fierce Trump critic ⁠— said the outcome of the elections was proof that people are "coming together to say we believe in democracy," per reports from The Hill, CNN, and others.

"Well, I think that it was a clear victory for team normal," Cheney said. "We believe in standing up for the Constitution, and for the Republic and a real rejection of the toxicity, and the hate, and vitriol, and of Donald Trump."

With high inflation and relatively low approval ratings for President Joe Biden's administration, Republicans were hoping to make big strides in retaking Congress in the midterm elections.

However, the "red wave" of sweeping gains never arrived, and many prominent GOP members have blamed Trump.

Cheney, who is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is an outspoken critic of the former president and likely lost her own place in Congress because of it.

She is one of two rebel Republicans sitting on the House Select Committee that is investigating the Capitol riot and also voted to impeach Trump following the attack last year.

Her outspoken criticism of the former president played a role in her resounding defeat in her primary this August, which she lost to Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman.

Cheney will be leaving office in less than two months but has vowed to remain active in national politics.

In the run-up to the midterms, Cheney endorsed three Democrats — Reps. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Tim Ryan of Ohio, and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. Spanberger and Slotkin both won their races, while Ryan lost.

Cheney said at the event on Thursday that she backed colleagues on the other side of the aisle because of "the challenges and the threats that we're facing as a nation."

"There's just been a real recognition of — we don't minimize our policy disagreements, we absolutely have policy disagreements — but we recognize that there is something much bigger and more at stake and that we have to come together and stand for fundamental democratic principles, stand for the rule of law," she said.

Cheney previously said that if Trump launched a 2024 presidential campaign it would split the Republican Party in two.