Mitt Romney’s Senate exit may create a vacuum of vocal, conservative Trump critics

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — With Mitt Romney set to exit the U.S. Senate, Washington will be without one of its strongest conservative critics of Donald Trump when the president retakes the White House in the new year.

At a final news conference Friday in Salt Lake City, the retiring senator reflected on his two-decade political career, which included the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, a term as Massachusetts governor and several skirmishes with Trump loyalists in Congress.

In what could be his final jab at Trump, Romney reiterated his concerns about the incoming president’s character and “relaxed relationship with the truth.” He said he hopes his own legacy will be that he stayed true to his values.

Romney, 77, chose not to run for reelection this year after representing Utah in the Senate since 2019. He said he has reached the end of his career as an elected official and wants to focus on getting more young people involved in politics after he leaves office in January.

Once the standard-bearer of the Republican Party, Romney watched his brand of moderate conservatism shift from establishment to outlier as Trump took hold of the party.

“I’m a narrow slice, if you will, of what we used to call the mainstream Republicans,” Romney told reporters Friday. “The stream has got a little smaller. It’s more like the main creek Republicans. At some point, it’s going to be under the sand, and we’ll have to dig it up.”

He became the voice of Congress’ centrist core, leading negotiations for the $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure law — one of the Biden administration’s crowning achievements — and a major COVID-19 relief package.

Political observers worry his departure may create a vacuum of strong centrist voices who can keep bipartisanship alive at a time of increased polarization in Washington.

Bipartisanship could very well go dormant under Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress, Romney said. But he does not think moderates should lose hope that the GOP could reverse its rightward shift.

“There’s kind of a fissure that exists between Republican voters and Republican policy, and that may present an opportunity for some kind of realignment,” he said, noting that the party is now composed of many working-class voters but tends to oppose minimum wage increases and pro-union policies.

Romney will be succeeded in the Senate by Republican U.S. Rep. John Curtis, who has developed a reputation for pushing back against party leaders such as Trump who falsely claim climate change is a hoax. Eyes will be on Curtis and other moderate Republicans who might break with the party in votes to confirm Trump’s cabinet picks.

In 2020, Romney became the first senator in U.S. history to vote to convict a president from their own party in an impeachment trial. He was the sole Republican in Congress to vote to convict Trump at both of his impeachment trials. Trump was acquitted by the Senate both times.

Earlier this year, Romney pledged not to vote for Trump but declined to join some other high-profile Republicans in endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris, saying he wanted to preserve his future ability to help reshape the Republican Party.

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