Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), who voted against Trump during both impeachment trials, has announced that he will not seek re-election after his current term ends in 2025.
Romney video:
My message to the people of Utah regarding my Senate re-election plan: pic.twitter.com/kgbsfIxMeR
— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) September 13, 2023
Romney said in part in the video: “At the end of another term I would be in my mid-80s. Frankly, it is time for a new generation of leaders. They are the ones who must make the decisions that will shape the world they will live in.”
In a Senate described as a retirement home, senators from both parties have remained in office into their 80s, and even as they approach 90, it’s refreshing to see someone walk away. Romney has been critical of both Biden and Trump, but he also has the unique distinction of being the only Republican senator to vote to convict Trump twice during his impeachment proceedings.
Mitt Romney is more like what the fiscal side of the Republican Party used to be. Romney said at the Iowa State Fair, while running for a successful Republican presidential candidate, “Corporations are people, my friend.”
According to an interview in The Washington Post, Romney also told Senator Joe Manchin not to run for president on a No Labels ticket because that would only help Trump win.
Romney is not a liberal, but he values democracy, knows that Trump should never be in power and that he would not deliberately harm the nation. These qualities make him an ally to those fighting to keep American democracy safe, even as we disagree with Senator Romney on virtually every other issue.
Mitt Romney’s departure means one of the few sane Republican voices leaving the Senate, and if past is prologue, he could be replaced by a right-wing extremist.