Mitt Romney, a U.S. senator for Utah, has announced his retirement this fall after a decades-long career in national politics.
At 76 years old, the biggest reason Romney has given for his decision to retire is his age. “I have spent my last 25 years in public service of one kind or another,” he said in his announcement on Sept. 13. “At the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-80s.”
Romney believes that career politicians shouldn’t continue holding offices for so long that it prevents the younger generations from having a say in their own politics. “Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders,” he said in the announcement. “They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in.”
Romney was born in Michigan, served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France and completed an undergraduate degree in English at Brigham Young University before a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration degree at Harvard. He began his career in U.S. politics as a young man in the late 1960s by helping with his parents’ unsuccessful campaigns, as his father was running for president and his mother for the national Senate.
Romney spent many years as a businessman, working in the leadership of the highly successful Bain Capital investment firm, first as its co-founder and principal stockholder and later as its CEO. Bain Capital led him to live in Massachusetts for many years, and during his time there, he was elected state governor from 2003 to 2007 while also serving as a stake president in the Church. Romney is one of only three politicians in U.S. history to serve as governor in one state and then as a senator in another.
Romney ran for president in 2008 when he lost the Republican Party’s nomination to John McCain, and then again in 2012 when he won the nomination but lost the general election to Barack Obama. In 2018, after spending increasing amounts of time in Utah with his family and reestablishing his residency there, he won the Utah election for state senator, replacing retiring Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Throughout his career in politics, Romney has been known for his moderate conservative views; while he served as a Republican and held generally conservative views, he often took stances on issues that place him closer to the center of the political spectrum. For example, he has opposed nationwide mandated health insurance and has encouraged tax cuts, but he has also marched in a peaceful protest with Black Lives Matter. He has an affinity for joining bipartisan Senate committees and action groups.
“There was a time when ‘moderate Republican’ senators were found up and down the East Coast and throughout the Midwest,” said Douglas Bennett, a Southern Utah University associate professor of political science. “But thanks to the intense polarization now found on both sides of the aisle, those days are largely gone, so Sen. Romney is in a lonely place in the Senate.”
One of the most famous instances of Romney holding a center position has been his views toward Donald Trump during the former president’s impeachment hearings, as Romney has consistently voted to impeach him despite being of his own party; during Trump’s first impeachment in 2020, Romney was the one and only Republican senator to do so, becoming the first senator in U.S. history to vote to remove a president of his own party from office. “In doing so, he showed a commendable independence,” said Bennett. “What makes him stand out is his willingness to challenge partisan direction and vote his conscience.”
Some of Romney’s other significant political efforts during his time as Utah’s senator have included environmental efforts to save the Great Salt Lake, pro-life efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade, foreign policy efforts to implement his Grand China Strategy and domestic policy efforts to implement his Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement project to bring running water to the 40% of Utah’s Navajo population who have lived without it.
What about the future for Romney’s senate seat? Republican Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson has formally announced that he plans to run for the spot, and Rep. John Curtis is also strongly considering doing so. A few less well-known politicians within Utah have similar thoughts.
According to an Associated Press article, “Romney threw open a wider door for those seeking to enter the race and led to speculation about whether Utah voters will choose a politically moderate successor similar to him or a farther-right figure such as Utah’s other U.S. senator, Mike Lee, a Donald Trump supporter.”
“Utah is a solidly Republican state,” Karni wrote in an article for The New York Times, “so Mr. Romney’s departure is highly unlikely to affect the balance of power on Capitol Hill.” There has, however, been a recent trend of these more moderate Republican senators choosing to retire in the face of heightening partisan polarization. She continued, “In the 2022 midterm elections, four House Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump declined to run for re-election.”
In the meantime, Romney reassures citizens that he will still be taking his position very seriously for the rest of his term. “While I’m not running for re-election,” he said, “I’m not retiring from the fight. I’ll be your United States senator until January 2025.”
Up-to-date information on Romney’s political agenda can be found on his official Senate website.
Author: Emily Walters
Editor: Chevy Blackburn
Photos by: Jabin Botsford
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