Mary Cheney: 'I'm Darth Vader's daughter'

Mary Cheney is the self-proclaimed daughter of Darth Vader.

“I’m Darth Vader’s daughter,” Cheney, 45, said during a discussion at American University on Wednesday, adding that the moniker led her to decorate her son’s room with a vintage figurine of the “Star Wars” character.


The younger daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to a small group of students about the Republican Party and its need for a different approach on marriage equality going forward.

“I don’t picture the whole national Republican Party running to embrace the issue of marriage equality any time in the near future, I certainly don’t expect to see it in the party’s platform next year in Cleveland,” she said.

Cheney pointed to signs of subtle progress within the party, with examples such as the recently Republican-controlled Congress not moving to pass legislation on the issue. And after the Supreme Court announced on Jan. 16 that it would consider a case that could provide marriage rights for gay couples nationwide, she said most potential Republican presidential candidates are “really hoping … the issue goes away.”

“I think you’re going to see a lot more Republicans taking the Scott Walker, Chris Christie approach of ‘that’s settled, we’re moving on,’” Cheney said. She predicted that by 2020 or, at most 2028, the Republican Party may embrace same-sex marriage.

But as far as who she will be supporting in 2016, she claims there is no one she’s in love with.

“I would love it if Rob Portman decided to run,” she said. Portman is currently forming his team to help him win a potentially challenging 2016 Senate reelection campaign in Ohio.

When asked which of the potential candidates would be the best option for Republicans who support marriage equality she answered, “It won’t be Ted Cruz.”

Same-sex marriage has been an issue that Cheney has strongly supported as a lesbian herself. In 2013, after her sister, Liz Cheney, came out against the right for same-sex couples to marry during her run for a Senate seat in Wyoming, Cheney publicly blasted her sister on Facebook, saying her sister’s stance treated her family as “second-class citizens.”

Her father released a statement defending Liz and saying that the issue is one the family had “dealt with privately for many years” and were “pained to see it become public.”

When asked whether her relationship with her sister has mended in the past two years, Cheney said, “I don’t have to answer that.”