Mitt’s in for Hatch’s Utah Senate seat
SALT LAKE CITY — Former presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is running for a Utah Senate seat, officially launching his political comeback attempt yesterday by praising his adopted home state as a model for an acrimonious national government in Washington.
Having been one of the Republican Party’s fiercest internal critics of President Trump, Romney didn’t mention the administration or Trump himself in a campaign announcement posted online. The closest allusion to Trump was Romney noting that Utah “welcomes legal immigrants from around the world,” while “Washington sends immigrants a message of exclusion.”
Romney, 70, will be the heavy favorite for the Senate seat being opened by Sen. Orrin Hatch’s retirement.
Leading up to Romney’s widely anticipated announcement, confidantes said he intends to focus his campaign on Utah, where he moved with his wife, Ann, after losing the 2012 presidential election to incumbent Democrat Barack Obama.
“Utah has a lot to teach the politicians in Washington,” Romney said in his announcement, noting that “on Utah’s Capitol Hill, people treat one another with respect.”
Still, Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and wealthy business executive, would come to Capitol Hill with a higher profile than a typical freshman senator. That reality was made clear by immediate reactions to his announcement from across the political spectrum.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, whom Romney tapped as his vice presidential running mate in 2012, immediately hailed his old partner’s “unparalleled experience, conservative leadership and lifetime of service.”
Hours after making his campaign announcement early yesterday morning, Romney filed paperwork with Utah’s elections office allowing him to start collecting the signatures of 28,000 registered Republicans to earn a spot on a June primary ballot.
He then toured a dairy farm in the northern Utah city of Ogden, driving a tractor and posing for pictures with workers and the farm’s owners. He didn’t take questions from reporters.
Yesterday afternoon, Romney dropped by a campaign volunteer booth set up at Utah Valley University in Orem, where he shook hands and posed for pictures with a mob of excited college students he asked to sign his candidate nominating petition.
Some Utah Republicans may still question whether the onetime abortion-rights supporter is too much of an outsider or too moderate for their tastes, but he’s not expected to face any serious primary or general election challenge.