Mitt Romney
Photographer: Leigh Vogel / UPI / Bloomberg
Photographer: Leigh Vogel / UPI / Bloomberg
Republican Mitt Romney said Donald Trump would likely win the Republican Party presidential nomination if he decided to run again in 2024.
The Utah senator, the only Republican who voted to condemn Trump in both impeachment trials, said he expects the former president to continue to play a big role in the Republican Party, even though he was elected out of office.
“He has by far the biggest voice and a big impact on my party,” said Romney at a New York Times virtual DealBook event on Tuesday. “I don’t know if he plans to run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I’m pretty sure he’ll win the nomination.”
The two wings of the GOP – traditionalists like Romney and loyal to Trump – are fighting for the future of the party. Trump continued to exert a strong influence on Republican voters. A plurality of them, 46%, said they would abandon the Republican Party and join a party led by Trump if he created one, according to a USA Today / Suffolk poll conducted last week.
Wyoming MP Liz Cheney, the House’s third Republican, said in a speech on Tuesday that Republicans must acknowledge the damage done by Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, and his encouragement to the crowd that invaded the US Capitol.
Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 attack, which left five dead.
Read more: Cheney says Republicans need to recognize the damage done by Trump
Asked if he would campaign against Trump if he did, Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, replied: “I would not vote for him.”
(Updates with quote from Romney, in the third paragraph.)