DAILY HERALD: Mitt Romney announced via video early Friday morning that he will be running for political office once again, this time to represent Utahns in the U.S. Senate.
After making the announcement, Romney spent his day making appearances in Ogden, Lehi and Orem to meet and make supporters.
At Utah Valley University, Romney spent about 30 minutes shaking hands, posing for selfies and occasionally reminding people to make sure to sign his petitions to get on the ballot, as he has elected to take the dual path to the ballot, by collecting signatures as well as going through the Republican Party’s caucus convention system.
Relationship with Trump
After the UVU meet-and-greet, Romney talked with the Daily Herald about what he’d like to accomplish if elected as a senator — including what his working relationship with President Donald Trump would look like.
Romney famously called Trump a “phony” and a “fraud” prior to the 2016 presidential election — something unheard of for a former presidential nominee to say about a current presidential nominee from his own party.
On Friday, Romney said he would continue to point out disagreements with Trump, but focused much more heavily on the ways he agrees with the president since taking office.
“On a policy front, the president’s policies since being elected are very close to my own,” Romney said. “And those that I promoted in my campaign.”
For instance, Romney said, he agreed with the tax reduction, deregulation and judicial appointments made during Trump’s tenure in the White House so far.
“Where the president has said something or Tweeted something that I thought was important, and where I disagreed, then I pointed that out,” Romney said. “I call them like I see them. So I will be with the president when his policies are good for the people of Utah, are good for the people of our country, and if I disagree, I’ll point that out.”
Bears Ears
His agreement with Trump extends to the president’s recent controversial reduction of the Bear’s Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by a total of about 2 million acres.
Romney asserted the original decisions to create those monuments, made by presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, didn’t align with the original intent of the Antiquities Act, which made the creation of national monuments possible.
“The idea in the antiquities law was that a president could designate an area and take the smallest footprint possible to protect antiquities,” Romney said. “Well, millions of acres were taken by Presidents Obama and Clinton, without even having the courtesy to come to Utah to talk about their taking.”
Though Romney said he didn’t know if the new boundaries for the monuments were exactly how he would have set them, he said Trump’s reversal corrected a mistake, and he supported that reversal.
Priorities if elected
As for Romney’s priorities that are Utah-specific, Romney said bringing jobs to Utah’s most rural counties will be at the top of his list.
Romney has a multi-step plan for accomplishing that, including bringing more government jobs to those areas, creating tax-advantaged zones to encourage businesses to locate and create jobs there and making sure that rural communities have quality health care and education.
“People are not going to live in an area if they don’t have a good health care option,” Romney said. “And with regards to education centers, I believe that finding places where there are institutions of higher learning and building on them to create an environment of technology will help attract jobs.”
And for those areas like Utah County where rapid urban growth is a concern, Romney said getting money for transportation and infrastructure needs is something he believes he can be effective in securing the necessary federal funding for.
“Particularly right here in Utah County, with the very high growth in Orem, Provo, Lehi and Alpine, you’re going to have increasing transportation issues that we’ve got to address,” he said. And I believe I can be more effective in getting the funding necessary to, for instance, de-bottleneck 1-15.”
Background
While Romney is the highest profile candidate to throw his hat into the ring for the Senate race, he is not alone. Democrat Jenny Wilson, a current Salt Lake County Council member, and a handful of Republicans have announced intent to run as well.
Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch announced on Jan. 2 he would retire at the end of the year after he completes his current term in office. Hatch, 83, has served in the U.S. Senate for more than 40 years and is the longest-serving Republican in the Senate.
It is the first time Romney has sought elected political office since his failed bid in 2012 for president against Barack Obama. During that election, Romney received an overwhelming 73 percent of the vote in Utah. Sixty-nine percent of registered voters in Utah County voted for Romney for president in the 2012 general election. Ultimately, Romney lost with 48 percent of the popular vote and only 206 electoral votes, compared to Obama’s 332.
Of course, many are familiar with Romney’s background prior to running for president as former governor of Massachusetts and his role in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Despite his time as an elected official on the East Coast, and skepticism from some that he’s lived in Utah for long enough to warrant a Senate run, Romney said Friday that there is no doubt that, for him, Utah is home.
Romney has lived in Utah for a total of 10 years, he said: three while he attended Brigham Young University for his undergraduate, three while he served as the president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, which was behind the 2002 Winter Olympics that took place in Salt Lake City, and the past four years as a resident.
“Yeah, this is home,” Romney said, mentioning his deep family roots in Utah, including a great-grandfather who was the architect of the St. George Tabernacle.
“What’s interesting is, even when I was running for president, people around the country assumed I was from Utah,” Romney said. “It’s only in Utah that people ask the question, ‘Are you really from Utah?’ Everyone else in the country is convinced I’m from Utah. They know my roots are here.”
Romney will also speak at the Utah County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner on Friday night.