Liz Cheney, Ron DeSantis, Elon Musk among finalists for Time Person of the Year
Musk was named 2021 Time Person of the Year, outraging some progressives
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Time magazine announced Monday it was narrowing down its 2022 Person of the Year candidates in an attempt to create buzz around the 95-year-old award, with finalists including anti-Trump Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, R., and Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Among the other contenders for the world’s "most influential" person, according to Time, are Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy.
Cheney became a media star this year with her work on the January 6 House Select Committee, becoming the most high-profile Republican in Congress to speak out against former President Trump. She was soundly defeated in her primary race by Republican Harriet Hageman, who went to be easily elected as Wyoming's lone U.S. representative in the general election.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Musk also has a shot of again becoming Time’s Person of the Year — the second time in a row. Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only person to have been named Person of the Year three times. Other finalists included gun control advocates, the Supreme Court and protesters in Iran.
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DeSantis, re-elected as Florida's governor in a landslide last month, is widely viewed as a possible 2024 contender and challenger to Trump. Trump has already announced his third bid for the White House.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Previous winners of the award have been controversial on the right and on the left. Time named President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris its Person of the Year in 2020, taking the opportunity to savage "Hurricane Trump" for "tearing through America, ripping through institutions, chewing up norms and spitting them out."
However, Musk’s 2021 victory as Time’s Person of the Year elicited a harsh reaction from progressives, with one Democratic adviser saying that choosing Musk was an "absolute disgrace."
Time’s Person of the Year will be officially revealed this Wednesday, per NBC.
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