ST. GEORGE — While some thanked him for his public service, others cheered the announcement from Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney that he will not be seeking reelection in 2024.
“Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders,” Romney said in the statement delivered Wednesday afternoon. “They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in.”
The 76-year-old Romney noted that if he were reelected, he would be in his mid-80s by the time he finished a second term.
While he didn’t directly reference 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.
“On the deficits and debt, both men refuse to address entitlements even though they represent two-thirds of federal spending,” Romney said. “Donald Trump calls global warming a hoax, and President Biden offers feel-good solutions that will make no difference to the global climate. On China, President Biden underinvests in the military, and President Trump underinvests in our alliances. Political motivations too often impede the solutions that these challenges demand. The next generation of leaders must take America to the next stage of global leadership.”
A former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate, Romney was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and replaced outgoing Sen. Orrin Hatch, who at the time had been the longest-serving Republican in the Senate.
While he said he will not be seeking reelection, Romney said, “I’m not retiring from the fight.” He will complete his term and continue to serve Utah’s priorities and issues of national interest.
“It is a profound honor to serve Utah and the nation, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so,” he said.
Many years prior to becoming one of Utah’s senators, Romney served as the governor of Massachusetts from 2003-07 and ran for president in 2012. He moved to Utah after losing the election to then-incumbent President Barack Obama.
Romney gained popularity in Utah in the early 2002s due to his work turning around the scandal-ridden 2002 Winter Olympics. The Romney family also has extensive ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the state’s dominant faith.
One of Romney’s ancestors, Miles Romney, lived in St. George and served as the construction supervisor for the St. George Tabernacle, according to the Washington County Historical Society. Another relative, Marion G. Romney, was among the church’s top leaders from the 1950s into the 1980s.
Romney easily won the election in reliably GOP Utah in 2018 but was expected to face more resistance from his own party after he emerged as one of the most visible members to break with Trump, who is still the party’s de-facto leader.
In 2016, he made his first extraordinary break with Trump, delivering a scathing speech in Utah denouncing Trump, then a presidential candidate, as “a phony, a fraud” and who was unfit to be president.
Romney in 2020 became the first senator in U.S. history to vote to convict a president from their own party in an impeachment trial. Romney was the only Republican to vote against Trump in his first impeachment and one of seven to vote to convict him in the second.
Trump was acquitted by the Senate both times.
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.
While the motion to censure at the state level failed, one made at the Washington County Republican Party’s own convention a month prior passed. Supporters of the motion called Romney a RINO, or “Republic In Name Only.”
“I don’t think this is going to change the senator,” censure sponsor Larry Meyers said at the time. “He doesn’t care what we say here today, but it sends a message to all Trump voters who are frustrated because the Utah Republican Party sat on their hands and said nothing about Romney’s votes to remove our president.”
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.
Following Romney’s announcement, the responses from public figures began to appear on social media.
“Our state and our nation have benefited from his principled leadership and patriotism,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox posted on X (formerly Twitter).
.@SenatorRomney has served with distinction at the highest levels of government and we’re incredibly grateful for his commitment to this country. Our state and our nation have benefited from his principled leadership and patriotism.
— Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox (@GovCox) September 13, 2023
Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson, who is aiming for a possible senatorial run in 2024, also thanked Romney for his time in office.
“I thank Senator Romney for his many years of service and appreciate his contributions to our state,” Wilson said. “Though we did not always see eye to eye, I wish him, Ann, and their family the best.
“We are at a crossroads, and it’s never been more important to elect a strong conservative fighter to the U.S. Senate. The stakes are too high, and we need a leader with the guts to stand up and get things done for the people of this state.”
Former President Donald Trump dropped an all-caps comment on Truth Social expressing glee at the news:
“FANTASTIC NEWS FOR AMERICA,THE GREAT STATE OF UTAH, & FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. MITT ROMNEY, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS PIERRE DELECTO, WILL NOT BE SEEKING A SECOND TERM IN THE U.S. SENATE, WHERE HE DID NOT SERVE WITH DISTINCTION. A BIG PRIMARY FIGHT AGAINST HIM WAS IN THE OFFING, BUT NOW THAT WILL NOT BE NECESSARY. CONGRATS TO ALL.”
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