Did Liz Cheney Quit Her Senate Race Because Of Family Same-Sex Marriage Feud?

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Tea Party Republican Liz Cheney, daughter of the former Vice President, has just announced she is quitting her campaign to become Wyoming’s next Senator. Cheney tried — and clearly failed — to force out GOP Senator Mike Enzi.

Calling herself “a mother and a patriot,” Liz Cheney took to Facebook late this morning to make the announcement. “Serious health issues have recently arisen in our family, and under the circumstances, I have decided to discontinue my campaign,” she wrote. “My children and their futures were the motivation for our campaign and their health and well being will always be my overriding priority.”

LOOK: Liz Cheney Announces Run For Senate, Twitter Explodes Into Hysterics

The former co-founder of the anti-Islam organization Keep America Safe — which she took down upon announcing her candidacy — Cheney also said in her statement, “I know that the work of defending freedom and protecting liberty must continue for each generation.”

Cheney did not state what or whose the health issues were.

The elder daughter of Dick Cheney recently had entered into a very ugly and public dispute over same-sex marriage with her own sister, and sister-in-law, first in August of last year. It then escalated after appearing on a Sunday talk show denouncing marriage equality.

The family feud was so ugly and widespread that Dick and Lynne Cheney felt the need to make a public statement to diffuse the spat. Sadly, that statement leaned strongly in favor of Liz, not her lesbian sister Mary Cheney.

Meanwhile, pundits are weighing in.

In “Why Gay-Bashing Couldn’t Save Liz Cheney,” Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern writes, “the undignified collapse of Cheney’s campaign suggests that, in 2014, a candidate cannot simply demonstrate hatred of gay people to pull in conservative votes.”

Liz Cheney betrayed her family for nothing more than a few scornful headlines, and now she’s giving up, leaving behind, as Dave Weigel put it, “nothing but a rich vein of liberal schadenfreude.” A candidate who was doomed from the start attempted to feed off homophobia—and found herself sinking even deeper in the muck. Perhaps the next homophobic candidate will think twice before repeating Cheney’s nasty, gratuitous charade.

And the National Journal, in, “The Cheney Brand Is Dead,” notes, “Cheney entered the race as a go-to conservative expert on the Middle East, but she barely talked about foreign policy on the campaign trail. Voters were more interested in her views on gay marriage than her bromides against the Obama administration over Benghazi.”

Finally, take a look at Think Progress’ “7 Worst Moments Of Liz Cheney’s Aborted Senate Campaign.”

Image via Liz Cheney’s Facebook page