By MICHELLE L. PRICE (Associated Press)
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney mentioned Wednesday that he is not going to run for reelection, ending a storied two-decade political profession that included the 2012 Republican GOP nomination for president and a time period as Massachusetts governor.
Romney, 76, mentioned the nation’s many challenges name for a youthful era of leaders. He mentioned the U.S. could be higher served if the 2 front-runners for his or her events’ 2024 presidential nominations — Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican former President Donald Trump — stepped apart.
“The times we’re living in redemand the next generation step up and express their point of view and to make the decisions that will shape American politics over the coming century,” Romney mentioned in a information convention on the Capitol. He mentioned child boomers like him are “not the right ones to be making the decisions for tomorrow.”
He mentioned after he leaves the Senate he plans to give attention to getting extra younger individuals voting and concerned within the political course of.
As the GOP’s 2012 nominee for the White House, Romney campaigned throughout America as a buttoned-up former Massachusetts governor and personal fairness government. But with Trump’s populist rise because the get together’s dominant determine, Romney’s model of Republicanism shifted from institution to outlier. He was the one GOP member of Congress to vote to convict Trump at each of his impeachment trials.
He is the sixth incumbent senator to announce plans to retire after the top of the time period in 2025, becoming a member of Republican Mike Braun of Indiana and Democrats Tom Carper of Delaware, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Dianne Feinstein of California and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
Republican Senate chief Mitch McConnell praised Romney in an announcement, noting the breadth of expertise he delivered to the chamber and saying his deep religion and integrity had impressed his colleagues.
“The U.S. Senate is known to attract bright and proven public servants. However, we rarely get to welcome new Senators already as accomplished and well-regarded as Mitt Romney,” McConnell mentioned.
His departure creates a wide-open contest in a state that closely favors Republicans and is predicted to draw a crowded discipline.
The announcement is predicted to steer in a surge of Republicans saying their intentions to run for Romney’s seat. Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson expressed curiosity in Romney’s seat earlier this yr, saying in April that the state wanted a “conservative fighter” who represents its values, not a “professional career politician.”
Wilson, in an announcement Wednesday, thanked Romney for his service and wished him the most effective. “I’ve been encouraged so far by the record-breaking fundraising, groundswell of grassroots support, and unprecedented endorsements we’ve received so far,” Wilson mentioned of his exploratory bid. “Stay tuned.”
Romney simply gained election in reliably GOP Utah in 2018 however was anticipated to face extra resistance from his personal get together after he emerged as some of the seen members to interrupt with Trump.
Romney in 2020 turned the primary senator in U.S. historical past to vote to convict a president from their very own get together in an impeachment trial. Romney was the one Republican to vote towards Trump in his first impeachment and one among seven to vote to convict him within the second.
Trump was acquitted by the Senate each instances.
Romney was booed by a gathering of the Utah Republican Party’s most energetic members months after his vote on the second impeachment trial, and a measure to censure him narrowly failed. Members of the get together even flung the time period “Mitt Romney Republican” at their opponents on the marketing campaign path in final yr’s midterm elections.
Still, Romney has been broadly well-liked in Utah, which has lengthy harbored a band of the get together that’s favored civil conservatism and resisted Trump’s brash and norm-busting model of politics.
The state is residence to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project; the anti-Trump Republican Evan McMullin, who launched a long-shot 2016 presidential marketing campaign; and GOP Gov. Spencer Cox, who has been vital of Trump and can be up for reelection in 2024.
More than a majority of the state’s inhabitants are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The religion arrived within the western state with pioneers fleeing spiritual persecution and unfold globally with the faith’s missionaries, a legacy that’s left the church’s conservative members embracing immigrants and refugees.
Romney, a Brigham Young University graduate and one of many religion’s most seen members, has been a well-liked determine within the state for 20 years. He burnished his fame there by turning across the bribery scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah, making it a world showcase for Salt Lake City.
Romney served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. During his tenure, he signed a well being care legislation in Massachusetts that had a few of the similar core options because the 2010 federal well being care legislation signed by President Barack Obama, who would go on to defeat Romney within the 2012 White House election.
During his presidential marketing campaign, Romney struggled to shake the notion that he was out of contact with common Americans. The picture crystallized together with his remark, secretly recorded at a fundraiser, that he didn’t fear about successful the votes of “47% of Americans” who “believe they are victims” and “pay no income tax.”
He moved to Utah after his defeat for the presidency.
In 2016, he made his first break with Trump, delivering a scathing speech in Utah denouncing Trump, then a presidential candidate, as a “phony” and a “fraud” who was unfit to be president.
After Trump gained, Romney dined with Trump to debate Romney turning into secretary of state. Trump selected Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as a substitute.
Romney accepted Trump’s endorsement throughout the major race for his 2018 Senate run but additionally pledged in an op-ed that yr that he would “continue to speak out when the president says or does something which is divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.”
In 2020, Romney marched in a Washington protest towards the police mistreatment of minorities and posted a picture of his participation on-line with the caption “Black Lives Matter,” a uncommon assertion for a member of his get together.
On Jan. 6, 2021, as a mob of Trump’s supporters have been storming the Capitol to cease Biden from turning into president, Romney practically got here nose to nose with the rioters. A U.S. Capitol Police officer directed him to show round, prompting Romney to interrupt right into a run for security.
Trump hailed the information of Romney’s retirement, saying the senator “did not serve with distinction.”
“Fantastic news for America, the great state of Utah, & for the Republican Party,” Trump wrote on his social media web site all in caps. “A big primary fight against him was in the offing, but now that will not be necessary. Congrats to all. Make America great again!”
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”