Utah senator, 76, who lost 2012 election to Obama, to step down next year, depriving Republican party of key critic of Trumpism
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, a former presidential nominee and a rare relative moderate in the Republican party of Donald Trump, has said he will not run for a second term next year, depriving the party of one of its fiercest critics in Congress of the former US president and his political movement.
“It’s pretty clear that the party is inclined to a populist demagogue message,” he said in an interview with the in which he announced his retirement.
Romney lost the 2012 presidential election to Barack Obama and entered Congress in 2018. Before that he was governor of Massachusetts between 2003 and 2007.
Amid increased scrutiny of the advanced age of many US politicians, Romney, 76, said it was time for a new generation to “step up [and] shape the world they’re going to live in”. He also said he did not think a second term that would end in his 80s could be as effective as his first.
That, Romney said, was in part down to a far-right dominated House Republican party which made it “difficult” for that chamber to “operate”, and in part down to a looming 2024 presidential election between the incumbent, Joe Biden, and his predecessor, Trump.
“Biden is unable to lead on important matters and Trump is unwilling to lead on important matters,” Romney said.
Trump faces 91 criminal charges, including 17 for election subversion and 40 over the retention of classified information, and numerous civil lawsuits – but still leads Republican polling in the 2024 nomination race by huge margins.
Romney opposed Trump’s nomination in 2016 and emerged as a rare Republican critic, despite a wobble after Trump won the White House, when Romney appeared to seek a cabinet appointment.
