GOP Sen. Mitt Romney says he will not run for reelection

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah on Wednesday introduced that he will not search reelection subsequent yr. His present time period ends in early 2025.

“While I’m not operating for reelection, I’m not retiring from the combat,” Romney, 76, stated in a video posted to X, previously Twitter.

Romney highlighted his age as he introduced his resolution.

“I’ve spent my final 25 years in public service of 1 sort or one other. At the top of one other time period, I’d be in my mid-eighties,” Romney stated.

“Frankly, it is time for a brand new technology of leaders,” he stated.

Whether intentional or not, these remarks drew an implicit distinction with a few of Romney’s even-older colleagues, together with 81-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and 90-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

Both have suffered latest public well being scares which have raised issues about whether or not they’re able to carry out their duties.

Romney stated in August that he would reveal his resolution on operating for one other Senate time period by the autumn.

Romney was elected to the Senate in 2018, a return to elected workplace 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 among 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 different Republican senators in 2021 who voted to convict Trump following his second impeachment for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Romney’s animosity towards Trump pre-dated his election to the Senate. In the 2016 election cycle, Romney unleashed a torrent of criticism in opposition to Trump, denouncing the then-rising star of the GOP as a “fraud” and inspiring voters to select one among his remaining major challengers.

But after Trump defied Romney’s prediction by defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton within the common election, Romney traveled to Trump’s golf membership for a personal assembly, fueling hypothesis that he was within the operating for a cupboard position.

Romney did not point out Trump by identify in Wednesday’s video saying his retirement from Congress. Instead, he went by a listing of his accomplishments, together with serving to to barter a bipartisan infrastructure legislation.

“You know, opposite to numerous expectations, I get pleasure from my work within the Senate a great deal,” Romney stated within the video.

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