Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told Politico this week that he is confident that he will win reelection if he chooses to run again in 2024 — but he has not yet made that decision.
The former Massachusetts governor related that he faced long odds in the past, such as becoming governor as a Republican in one of the most liberal states in the country. His 2012 GOP nomination for president, he said, was also a “long shot.”
🔴 Mitt Romney Makes a Bold Statement About Seeking Reelection in 2024https://t.co/sAQro6KbTV
— Resist the Mainstream (@ResisttheMS) December 22, 2022
He told the outlet that he has not made a final decision on running “and probably won’t do that anytime in the immediate future.” He added that winning a potential reelection bid is “not a question in my mind.”
Romney was the Massachusetts governor from 2003 until 2007, and in 2012 he lost the presidential election to incumbent Democrat Barack Obama.
He secured the endorsement of then-President Donald Trump and won his U.S. Senate race in 2018. However, in 2020 he cast a vote to convict Trump on one of two articles of impeachment brought by the House the year before.
And when the House again chose to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 incident at the Capitol, Romney was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict. This came after Trump was no longer in office, and the former president was acquitted both times.
Recently he joined 11 other GOP senators and supported pro-gay marriage legislation.
Earlier this year, Romney announced he backed President Joe Biden’s nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court. After that declaration, Newt Gingrich told Fox News that he did not believe the former presidential candidate could win another statewide race in Utah.
The former House Speaker said it would not surprise him to see Romney in the state’s Republican primary. But the presence of “Massachusetts values in a Utah senator” will probably prevent him from being reelected.
There has even been speculation of Romney ditching the Senate reelection bid and instead running a third-party campaign for president in 2024.
Gingrich was right. It is very difficult, despite his track record, to see Romney carry the Republican nomination in Utah in less than two years. His support for the Democratic persecution of Trump and moderate leanings may play well in liberal Massachusetts, but likely not in Utah.
