U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) and other U.S senators unveil laws that might allow the Biden administration to “ban or prohibit” foreign technology products corresponding to the Chinese-owned video app TikTok during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 7, 2023.
Bonnie Money | Reuters
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah on Wednesday announced that he is not going to seek reelection next 12 months. His current term ends in early 2025.
“While I’m not running for reelection, I’m not retiring from the fight,” Romney, 76, said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter.
Romney highlighted his age as he announced his decision.
“I’ve spent my last 25 years in public service of 1 kind or one other. At the top of one other term, I’d be in my mid-eighties,” Romney said.
“Frankly, it is time for a latest generation of leaders,” he said. “They’re those that have to make the choices that can shape the world they shall be living in.”
Whether intentional or not, those remarks drew an implicit contrast with a few of Romney’s even-older colleagues, including 81-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and 90-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Each have suffered recent public health scares which have raised concerns about whether they’re able to perform their duties.
Romney said in August that he would reveal his decision on running for one more Senate term by the autumn.
Romney was elected to the Senate in 2018, a return to elected office for the previous governor of Massachusetts who mounted a failed bid to unseat then-President Barack Obama in 2012.
In Congress, Romney distinguished himself as one in all former President Donald Trump’s few outspoken Republican critics. He was the one Republican to vote to convict Trump following his first impeachment trial in early 2020, a call that drew a scornful response from Trump and his allies.
Romney joined six other Republican senators in 2021 who voted to convict Trump following his second impeachment for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Romney’s animosity toward Trump pre-dated his election to the Senate. Within the 2016 election cycle, Romney unleashed a torrent of criticism against Trump, denouncing the then-rising star of the GOP as a “fraud” and inspiring voters to choose one in all his remaining primary challengers.
But after Trump defied Romney’s prediction by defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the final election, Romney traveled to Trump’s golf club for a non-public meeting, fueling speculation that he was within the running for a cupboard role.
Romney critiqued each Trump and President Joe Biden in Wednesday’s video.
“We face critical challenges — mounting national debt, climate change, and the ambitious authoritarians of Russia and China. Neither President Biden nor former President Trump are leading their party to confront those issues,” Romney said.
“On the deficits and debt, each men refuse to deal with entitlements regardless that they represent two thirds of federal spending. Donald Trump calls global warming a hoax and President Biden offers feel-good solutions that can make no difference to the worldwide climate. On China, President Biden underinvests within the military and President Trump underinvests in our alliances,” he said.
“Political motivations too often impede the solutions that these challenges demand,” Romney said. “The subsequent generation of leaders must take America to the subsequent stage of world leadership.”
Romney vowed to maintain working on a variety of issues through the top of his term in January 2025.
“It’s a profound honor to serve Utah and the nation,” he said, “and I thanks for giving me the chance to achieve this.”
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