Republican Senator Mitt Romney announced last night (Wednesday) that he will not run for re-election in the upcoming elections and will retire from public life at the end of his term in January 2025. In his statement, he also addressed U.S. President Joe Biden and his expected Republican rival, Donald Trump, urging them to retire as well and allow the younger generation to enter American leadership.
In his statement, Romney claimed that he decided to retire because he did not believe he could achieve significant accomplishments in another term. "If I were to stay for another term, I would be in my mid-80s when it ends," said the 76-year-old Romney. "To be honest, it's time for a new generation of leaders."
He further stated that he would focus on bringing young newcomers into politics and the Republican Party. "While I'm not running for re-election, I'm not retiring from the fight," he emphasized. "My party will succeed in getting young people to vote for us only if we talk about the future. I hope that President Biden and Trump will also step aside to allow both parties to choose someone from the next generation. Biden himself said in 2020 when he ran that he is serving as a bridge to the next generation, so yes, it's time for a transition."
Mitt Romney began his political career in the 1990s but only held his first major office in 2003 when he was elected as the Governor of Massachusetts. In 2012, he won the Republican Party primaries and became the party's candidate in the presidential elections, where he competed against the incumbent President Barack Obama. However, he lost with only 206 electoral votes. In 2018, he was elected to the Senate as one of the representatives from the state of Utah, and he has been serving as a senator to this day.
In recent years, Mitt Romney has been considered one of the moderate voices within the Republican Party, and he has not shied away from criticizing the party's leader, Donald Trump. Romney was the only Republican senator who voted in favor of Trump's impeachment in both of his impeachment trials, earning him significant praise even from some Democratic Party members. Conversely, Trump himself reacted positively to Romney's retirement announcement, stating that it was "great news for America."