Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, announced on Wednesday that he will not be running for reelection in 2024, which leaves an open seat in a state that is comprised mostly of Republicans and, according to political talking heads, will end up being a very crowded field of candidates. I know one guy who won’t miss Romney: former President Donald Trump. Those two did not get along at all. And who can blame Trump for not liking Romney? He has a pretty well established reputation for being a Republican in Name Only (RINO), and that is in direct opposition to someone like Trump who stands on his principles and tends to be a man of his word.
For Trump, the country came first, not his own political success. Unfortunately, many Republicans prior to the former president’s term in the White House, were in it for the easy money and would do whatever it took to get big donors to ensure they stayed in office for life, caring little about fulfilling their obligations to the American people.
According to Newsmax, “Romney, a former presidential candidate and governor of Massachusetts, made the announcement in a video statement. The 76-year-old said the country is ready for new leadership.”
“Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders,” he went on to say in his announcement. “They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in.”
“Romney noted that he would be in his mid-80s at the end of another six-year Senate term. While he didn’t directly refer to the ages of President Joe Biden, 80, or former President Donald Trump, 77, who are the leaders for their parties’ 2024 presidential nominations, he accused both men of not responding enough to the growing national debt, climate change and other long-term issues,” the report continued.
The Utah Republican had very little difficulty cinching a victory for the Senate seat in 2018, however, he was going to face some pretty serious competition the next time around due to the fact that he went hard against Trump, who many still consider to be the leader of the Republican Party, despite losing the 2020 presidential election.
Romney ended up making history during the impeachment trial of the former president in 2020, becoming the first Senator to ever vote in favor of impeaching a member of his own party. During Trump’s first impeachment hearing, Romney was the only Republican to vote yes. He was one of seven to do so in the second one. Trump was acquitted of the charges brought against him in both cases.
“Romney was booed by a gathering of the Utah Republican Party’s most active members months after his vote at the second impeachment trial, and a measure to censure him narrowly failed. Members of the party even flung the term “Mitt Romney Republican” at their opponents on the campaign trail in 2022’s midterm elections,” Newsmax said. ““Still, Romney has been seen as broadly popular in Utah, which has long harbored a band of the party that’s favored civil conservatism and resisted Trump’s brash and norm-busting style of politics.”
We’ll likely see another Republican in the seat being left open by Romney. The only question is whether or not they’ll be a Trump Republican or yet another RINO?
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