FIRST ON FOX - Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, a strong House supporter of President Donald Trump, on Tuesday announced her candidacy for the Senate in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis.
Trump endorsed Hageman a couple of hours after she jumped into the race, calling her a "TOTAL WINNER!"
"Harriet has ALWAYS delivered for Wyoming, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate," the president added in a social media post.
Hageman's campaign launch comes four days after Lummis announced that she wouldn't seek re-election in next year's midterms for a second six-year term representing the solidly red western state in the Senate.
If she wins next year's election, Hageman would give Trump another top supporter in the upper chamber of Congress.
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"President Trump's America First movement made it popular to say you want to Make America Great Again, and he continues to deliver on that promise," Hageman said in a statement and launch video announcing her candidacy. "It would be a great honor to keep advancing the America First agenda in the Senate, as it has been in the House."
Hageman, a water and property rights attorney, grabbed national attention in 2022 when, with Trump's support, she ousted then-Rep. Liz Cheney in the Republican primary for the state's at-large congressional seat.
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Cheney had become a top Trump target after being just one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the president after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Cheney went on to serve in a leadership role in the Democratic-steered committee that investigated the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of former President Joe Biden's 2020 White House victory.
Hageman, who won nearly 70% of the vote in the general election, was also backed by Trump in her landslide 2022 congressional re-election victory, and a possible endorsement of Hageman by the president as she now bids for the Senate would hardly be surprising.
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Lummis, in explaining her decision not to seek re-election, pointed to this autumn's divisive government shutdown.
"Deciding not to run for re-election does represent a change of heart for me, but in the difficult, exhausting session weeks this fall I've come to accept that I do not have six more years in me," the senator wrote in her statement.
Hageman, in launching her campaign, praised Lummis.
"Cynthia Lummis leaves a legacy of over four decades of principled, conservative leadership, and Wyoming and America are better for it," Hageman said. "I thank her for her distinguished and admirable service, and pledge to also bring honor to the office she held, should the people of Wyoming make the decision to elect me to the United States Senate."
Hageman, who has been a leader in the Western Caucus, a coalition of Republican lawmakers from western states in both chambers of Congress, is a fourth generation Wyomingite. In launching her campaign, she pledged to carry on the fight for conservative ideals and the protection of Wyomingites' natural rights and liberties.
"I will always defend Wyoming's ability to access, manage and use our natural resources to fuel our economy. We must ensure that Wyoming remains a leader in energy and food production to help us maintain our way of life," she said in her statement.
Hageman becomes the first major Republican to launch a Senate campaign. And she quickly landed the support of the influential Club For Growth, with an endorsement from the group's political wing soon after announcing her candidacy.
Two-term GOP Gov. Mark Gordon is thought to be mulling a potential Senate bid.
Republicans dominate statewide elections in Wyoming.
Trump carried the state by 46 points in his White House victory last year, and GOP Sen. Tom Barasso won re-election last year by 51 points.
