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Romney makes it of cial:
He’s running for Utah Senate seat
By MICHELLE L. PRICE and BILL BARROW, Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Former pres- idential hopeful Mitt Romney is running for a Utah Senate seat, o cially launching his political comeback attempt Friday by praising his adopted home state as a model for an acrimonious national government in Washington.
Having been one of the Republican Party’s ercest internal critics of President Donald Trump, Romney didn’t mention the administration or Trump himself in a campaign announcement posted online. e closest allusion to Trump was Rom- ney noting that Utah “welcomes legal immigrants from around the world,” while “Washington sends immigrants a message of exclusion.”
Romney, 70, will be the heavy favor-
ite for the Senate seat being opened by Sen. Orrin Hatch’s retirement. Hatch was among the rst Republicans to pitch Rom- ney as his potential successor.
Leading up to Romney’s widely antici- pated announcement, con dantes said he intends to focus his campaign on Utah, where he moved with his wife, Ann, a er 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 pro le than a typical freshman senator. at reality was made clear by immediate reactions to his announcement from across the political spectrum.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, whom Rom- ney tapped as his vice presidential running mate in 2012, immediately hailed his old partner’s “unparalleled experience, conser- vative leadership and lifetime of service.”
Democrats, despite not yet o ering any credible threat to the Republican dom-
inance in Utah, answered with a scathing rebuke, dismissing Rom- ney’s periodic crit- icisms of Trump. “Mitt Romney desperately wants to separate himself from the extrem- ism of the current administration,” said Democratic National Com- mittee spokesman Vedant Patel in
a statement, but “the basis policies of Trump’s GOP ... were his before they were Donald Trump’s.”
As he did in
two presidential campaigns, Romney’s announcement highlights his stewardship of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Romney is respected in the state for taking over the troubled games amid plan- ning and nancial disarray.
Romney supporters describe him as
a “favorite son” of Utah. He’s a Brigham Young University graduate who went on
to become the rst Mormon presidential nominee of a major political party. About 60 percent of Utah’s residents are members of e Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Some Utah Republicans may still ques- tion whether the one-time 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.
Romney attracted headlines in 2016 when he took the extraordinary step of delivering a biting speech denouncing Trump, calling him a “phony” who was un- t for o ce. Romney muted his criticism for a time when Trump auditioned him as
a potential secretary of state.
For his part, Trump has said Romney
“choked like a dog” in his failed presiden- tial bids in 2012 and four years earlier, when Romney lost the GOP nomination to Arizona Sen. John McCain.
Romney also would be a compelling addition to the ongoing congressional wrangle over health care. As Massachusetts governor, Romney enacted a sweeping health insurance overhaul that became a model for the insurance exchanges in 2010 A ordable Care Act.
Amid intense conservative opposition to the national law, however, Romney dis- tanced himself during his 2012 campaign from his Massachusetts accomplishments, arguing that he had pursued a state solu- tion that wasn’t appropriate at the federal level.
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Barrow reported from Atlanta. Follow Price and Barrow on Twitter at https:// twitter.com/michelleprice and https://twit- ter.com/BillBarrowAP .
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