Sen. Mitt Romney, 76, the GOP presidential nominee who lost the 2012 election to Barack Obama and later became a United States senator from Utah in 2018, said he will not seek a second term in the Senate in 2024.
Interviewed by The Washington Post, Romney cited his disappointment in the GOP-controlled House and the prospect that either President Biden or former President Trump would be elected in 2024.
“It’s very difficult for the House to operate, from what I can tell,” he declared, “and two, and perhaps more importantly, we’re probably going to have either Trump or Biden as our next president. And Biden is unable to lead on important matters and Trump is unwilling to lead on important matters.”
Romney asserted that neither Biden nor Trump was serious about reducing the deficit, saying, “You’ve got both Biden and Trump saying we won’t touch entitlements. How irresponsible is that!”
Romney said he would not publicly support any of the GOP presidential candidates challenging Trump, opining, “I doubt my support will mean anything positive to any of the candidates at the finish line. I’m not looking to get involved in that.”
“It’s pretty clear that the party is inclined to a populist demagogue message,” he said, adding, “If it can change in the direction of a populist it can change back in the direction of my wing of the Republican Party.”
Romney, who served as governor of Massachusetts, was not the first member of his family to run for president; his father George, who served as governor of Michigan, was a prime candidate in 1968, losing the nomination to Richard Nixon. As a senator, Romney voted to impeach Trump twice, incurring the enmity of Trump loyalists. In January 2019, he wrote of Trump:
After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not. When he won the election, I hoped he would rise to the occasion. His early appointments of Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Nikki Haley, Gary Cohn, H.R. McMaster, Kelly and Mattis were encouraging. But, on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions last month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.
“With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable,” he continued. “And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.”
Commenting on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy telling House committees to begin an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, he stated, “This is not an impeachment. This is an inquiry, and I have heard no allegations that rise to the high-crimes-and-misdemeanors standard of the Constitution.”
“I think it’s of paramount importance to maintain our commitment to the Constitution and the liberal constitutional order,” he stated. “And I know that there are some in MAGA world who would like Republican rule, or authoritarian rule by Donald Trump. But I think they may be forgetting that the majority of people in America would not be voting for Donald J. Trump. The majority would probably be voting for the Democrats.”
He concluded, “I do believe that our institutions, while under constant barrage, are strong, that our court system is strong and that, fundamentally, the American people stand by the Constitution and the constitutional norms.”