On Wednesday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), a high-profile critic of former President Donald Trump, announced that he would retire after this term — a move that appears likely to shift the Senate GOP further to the right.
“It’s time for a new generation of leaders to … shape the world they’re going to live in,” Romney said in a video announcing his plans, during which he also criticized the leadership of both President Joe Biden and Trump. As part of his statement, Romney also emphasized that his age was a factor in this decision, noting that he would be in his mid-80s by the time he finished a second term.
Romney’s retirement, effective at the end of his current term in 2025, will mark the departure of one of the few GOP senators who’s been willing to directly confront Trump: He’s the only Republican who voted to convict Trump in both impeachment trials and was the first senator in history to vote to convict a president of his own party in 2020.
[Related: Mitt Romney just did something that literally no senator has ever done before]
Romney’s announcement also comes as Senate Republicans’ membership has shifted in a Trumpier direction in the last few years. This past year, six new Republicans were elected to the Senate, including four who previously subscribed to election denialism. With Romney’s departure, the Senate will lose both a key Republican moderate and dealmaker, along with a prominent lawmaker who was willing to call out the party’s likely 2024 presidential nominee.
Whoever takes over for him is likely to be both more conservative, and more Trump-friendly, a shift that could be especially concerning if the former president retakes power and few in his party are willing to check him.
Romney has been a key Trump critic
Romney’s legacy in politics is complicated.
A former Massachusetts governor and the GOP presidential nominee in 2012, Romney was best known for…
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