Liz Cheney Lands On Her Feet With Gig At University Of Virginia

 Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney has landed on her feet with a new job as a professor of politics at the University of Virginia.

The UVA Center for Politics announced the hire Wednesday. Cheney will become a professor of practice at the school and participate in both seminars and research. Cheney was one of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in 2021. She was primaried out of her seat in the 2022 midterms.

“Preserving our constitutional republic is the most important work of our time, and our nation’s young people will play a crucial role in this effort,” Cheney said in the university’s news release. “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. 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.”

As a professor, Cheney will give University-wide lectures, and serve as a guest lecturer in seminars with Center for Politics director Larry J. Sabato and other faculty. She will also contribute to the center’s research, and participate in university and community events. She will retain her position through the end of the fall 2023 semester, with an option to renew.

“With democracy under fire in this country and elsewhere around the world, Liz Cheney serves as a model of political courage and leadership,” Sabato added in the news release. “Liz will send a compelling message to students about integrity. She’s a true profile in courage, and she was willing to pay the price for her principles and democracy itself.”

“Our students will have an incredible opportunity to learn from Liz Cheney, who has fiercely defended democracy as part of a distinguished career,” University of Virginia President Jim Ryan added. “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.”

Cheney was one of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump. That vote, along with repeated criticisms of her own party, cost Cheney her position as the House Republican Conference Chair. After that, she was nominated to the January 6th Committee. Cheney lost her seat in the 2022 Republican primary to a Trump-backed challenger, natural resources lawyer Harriet Hageman, in a 66%-29% blowout. Hageman went on to win the general election.

Cheney has already had some experience as a lecturer. In October, she gave a series of lectures at Syracuse University, Harvard University, and the University of Notre Dame.

Last year, former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio had a similar stroke of luck after he was term-limited as mayor. The former Big Apple mayor joined the faculty of Harvard in August as a visiting fellow at both the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School, as well as a Senior Leadership Fellow at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, teaching courses in public health leadership.