Mitt Romney has announced his departure from politics and will leave the US Senate in 2025. In a video posted on his Twitter account, he said it was time to stand aside for a new generation of leaders as he would be in his mid-80s at the end of a theoretical second term.
The Senator highlighted what he sees as the nation’s most “critical challenges” and condemned President Biden and President Trump, saying neither man had the right answers to America’s problems. The most important issues, according to Romney, are mounting national debt, climate change, and the “ambitious authoritarians of Russia and China.”
Americans will likely remember Senator Romney for his fierce and unusual opposition to Donald Trump within the GOP and his run at the White House against Barack Obama in 2012. He had campaigned unsuccessfully in the 2008 primaries and spent the next four years preparing for 2012. His running mate was Paul Ryan, who would become House Speaker in 2015.
Obama was re-elected in November 2012, and as part of his victory speech in Chicago, he said he would work with Mr. Romney “to move this country forward.”
When Donald Trump received the news of the Utah Senator’s retirement, he said it was “fantastic news for America, the great state of Utah, and for the Republican Party.” Trump’s relationship with Romney was one of the more strained in US politics, and the two have not hidden their dislike of each other.
Romney was the only Republican on Capitol Hill who voted to convict President Trump in his first impeachment trial. Following his retirement announcement, he told reporters in Washington that the GOP is “inclined to a populist demagogue message.” When asked who he believes will enter the White House in 2024, he said, “Today, I’d say 50-50. If I had to bet, I’d say it could go either way.” He called on both candidates to step aside and open the door to a new era.
