Long-time Utah Senator Orrin Hatch Will Not Seek Re-election
Will Mitt Romney run?
The Republican’s longest-serving senator will retire at the end of his term this year. Sen. Hatch is 83-years-old and serving his seventh Senate term.
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch released a video statement Tuesday announcing his plans to retire into public life.
An announcement from Senator Orrin G. Hatch. #utpol pic.twitter.com/UeItaLjR3j
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) January 2, 2018
Utah’s Junior Senator:
Sen. Hatch has been a tremendous servant to the people of Utah and he will be sorely missed. It has truly been an honor serving with him in the United States Senate and I know he will continue to do fantastic work for Utahns.
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) January 2, 2018
And now the power shifts to Mississippi:
Now that Sen Hatch has announced his intention to retire at the end of this term, that means the Sen from Mississippi @SenThadCochran is next in line to serve as President pro tem of the US Senate. Which means he will be 3rd in line to the Presidency after VP and Speaker Ryan. pic.twitter.com/VCVmKeqp2x
— Yashar Ali ???? (@yashar) January 2, 2018
Hatch withstood weighty opposition from outsider Tea Party groups and handily won re-election in 2012. Unless something wild and outlandish happens, a decent Republican should have no problem holding the seat in deep red Utah.
So who, I wonder, might run?
As it stands, speculation revolves around one man: Mitt Romney.
According to several reports, Trump attempted to persuade Sen. Hatch to run for an eighth term, partially to ice Romney out of a Senate seat. Romney, who’s popular in Utah, expressed interest in running for the seat in the event Hatch retired. Politico reporterd a month ago:
Donald Trump is going all out to persuade seven-term Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch to seek reelection — a push aimed in no small part at keeping the president’s longtime nemesis, Mitt Romney, out of the Senate.
Romney has been preparing to run for Hatch’s seat on the long-held assumption that the 83-year-old would retire. Yet Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is now refusing to rule out another campaign — a circumstance Romney’s infuriated inner circle blames squarely on the president. Their suspicions are warranted: Trump has sounded off to friends about how he doesn’t like the idea of a Sen. Romney.
The president’s mostly behind-the-scenes campaign to sway Hatch will burst into public view on Monday, when he arrives in Salt Lake City to hold a well-choreographed event designed to showcase his affection for the powerful Senate Finance Committee chairman.
Trump’s appearance is ostensibly official in purpose: He will announce his decision to reduce the size of Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante national monuments, a cause that Hatch has championed. But it’s also undeniably political: to use the trappings of presidential power to get a veteran lawmaker to rethink his long anticipated plans to leave the Senate.
A New York Times report published Tuesday indicates that Trump may be warming to the idea of a Senator Romney:
The president has had Mr. Romney on his mind. Over golf earlier this year, Mr. Trump asked Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, what he thought of the former Republican nominee. (Mr. Graham said he praised Mr. Romney and predicted he would be a solid senator.)
Mr. Romney repeatedly assailed the president during the 2016 campaign, calling Mr. Trump “a fraud,” and Mr. Trump returned the favor, stating that Mr. Romney “choked like a dog” in the 2012 race. The two had something of a rapprochement after the election when Mr. Romney was briefly considered as secretary of state, but White House advisers are uneasy about having such a well-known critic in the Senate.
Source familiar with @MittRomney thinking says he has moved from WILLING to run towards WANTING to run in recent weeks. Putting pieces in place to pursue Utah senate seat.
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) January 2, 2018
Romney has sky-high popularity in Utah, held over from his 2012 run and from rescuing SLC Olympics in 2002. He’ll be extremely well-funded. Would be VERY tough/suicidal for a Bannonite to challenge in primary.
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) January 2, 2018
For what it’s worth.
If elected, @MittRomney will be oldest person to enter the Senate since S.I. Hayakawa (70) of California was elected in 1976.
— John Gizzi (@johngizzi) January 2, 2018
Let the games begin!
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Comments
Mitt is my age, 70, so no spring chicken. 😉 Term limited to one or two terms at most. 😉
More worrisome is that he might be a petulant Never Trumper, such as McCain, who would sabotage an agenda which he himself might have proposed had he been elected.
Chance that Mitt will run: 100%
Chance that Mitt will win: 100%
Chance that the Dems will try to use this as a pry-bar to wedge power out of Trump’s hands: 150%
Chance that Mitt will surprise me and support Trump: We’ll see.
Mr. Hatch, 83, was under heavy pressure from Mr. Trump to seek re-election and block Mr. Romney, who has been harshly critical of the president. But Mr. Hatch, who emerged as one of the president’s most avid loyalists in the Senate, decided to retire after discussing the matter with his family over the holidays. The veteran senator was also facing harsh poll numbers in Utah, where 75 percent of voters indicated in a survey last fall that they did not want him to run again…
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Mr. Establishment loses again.
Heh…!!!
I am very grateful that Hatch is gone. Will Mitt run? He is liked here – the 2002 Olympics made him a popular man here. I do not like him as a politician. I hate the fact that he is a carpetbagger, and will probably win anyway.
I will campaign against him in the primary.
IIRC Romney has had a home in Utah since 1999.
So, what’s your definition of “carpetbagger”?
One can have a home anywhere…..it doesn’t mean one lives there.
Where has he lived…???
where has he NOT lived – he has at least 6 homes in 3 states.
He is a resident of Utah. Holladay is the town. That’s where he’s registered to vote.
And it was never six homes.
Rags, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Romney the governor of…Mass.? (hint: romneycare)
Where did he live, then?
Yeah, bare, you’re stupidly wrong, as usual.
What Romney did in MA was forge the best STATE care that he could, given the Collectivist majority in the legislature he had to deal with.
And,yes, it was a Heritage Foundation trial balloon…
“…best STATE care that he could…”
That’s what MARXISTS do.
Americans get the government out of what should be a free market.
You said that like it was a good thing. LOL!!
If he were a Communist like Bernie Sanders, running as a Democrat, and you were posting at Firedoglake, you’d have a point.
But, this is Utah, Romney is supposed to be a Republican (despite all evidence to the contrary), and this is not some Anti-American Marxist site.
Masscare was an unmitigated disaster for the people of Massachusetts. It failed in every conceivable way.
This despite massive annual federal subsidies – which were the only thing to keep the scheme afloat at all.
Every insurer fled the state save one, Blue Cross, and they suffered massive annual losses every single year.
Actual cost of care skyrocketed, and even the most basic goal of the program – to reduce numbers of ER visits, not only failed to be achieved but the program actually caused the problem to get worse.
Obamacare, of course, had similar results on a national scale only worse – because Masscare had federal subsidies to bail it out, but of course, there’s no one to bail out the federal govt.
Aarradin, you’re stating a bunch of stuff we agree on, but with a few exceptions…
1. Massive-two-spits was GOING to get a STATE program for health insurance. Romney just worked to give them the LEAST terrible form.
2. Federalism says that Massive-two-spits could go full Communist, and that would be terrible but it would not impose on other states.
3. ObamaDoggle was a HUGE imposition on all the nation, which is one important distinction.
4. What Romney managed to get Massive-two-spits to adopt was a very badly misguided model devised by a conservative think-tank. Conservatives can be wrong, too.
Oh, and don’t forget that the Great Goad Cheeto was all-in for single-payer.
Prior to his campaign conversionsssssssss….
Didn’t stop Shillary in New York.
I remember what a gutless candyass he was when he ran against obastard in ’12.
Just what we need – another reach-across-the-aisle wimp.
In all of Utah, this is their best? Geez. Pathetic. He’ll be a quieter McPain, that’s all.
And a gutless candyass he will remain. Worse. This is a guy who couldn’t beat a clueless obama in a debate, and who allowed candy crowley to step in for the traitor.
And after that humiliating, bizarre anti-Trump rant of Romney’s, no one seeking to drain the swamp can take romney as anyone other than being part of the problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xd3kr-QpeM
Romney is a good business manager, but he has no place in the war to take back our nation. If romney was a citizen living in Iran, he’d be hiding. Trump would be out fighting.
romney should rid into the sunset with hatch and franken. Good riddance to both.
Hatch was Mr. Estlishment’s man. Where have you been?
Ha…!!!
If T-rump was in Iran, he’d have a bone spur…that he never had…
No, it’s not their best. This is the same state that elected Mike Lee, so there’s still hope. We should wait and see who else runs against Mitt (I assume he’ll run).
If only Mitt Romney the hard-eyed businessman would run. Given his lack-of-fire-in-the-belly performance in 2012 I expect Mittens Romney to run.
How much did Romney pay Hatch?
Yikes, Cochran President Pro Tem….he’s certifiably senile.
I’d like to see Mia Love run.
Why? If she runs, she’ll merely be the politically correct, ticks off all the right diversity checkboxes for the 21st century Mitt Romney candidate. IOW, if she runs it will be because she cut a deal with Romney to be his Woman in Havana.
Won’t be missed.
Unless my memory is faulty, Mitt Romney won the First Presidential Debate rather handily. However, when it came to second one, more than a few jaws hit the floor as they exclaimed, “What happened?!!”
There were reports that Romney was advised that he couldn’t talk to Obama the way he had in the first debate and, thus, he backed off. While there was a push at the end of the campaign it was “a day late and a dollar short.”
Given that Romney has re-gained his voice, as evidenced by his remarks about President Trump, and that most likely there are no advisors telling he can talk to the President “that way,” I have little doubt that Romney is just trembling to do his grand pas de chat on the national stage.
It is too bad that all these old doggies in Congress don’t devote at least a little time to cultivating a bench.
What a joke, Romney. Could not get elected President. Romney Care and lousy legacy to his dad.
Maybe he will be challenged by Egg McMullin. /s
Keeping close tabs on the “Russian” investigation, there is some interesting stuff coming about Romney. Watch for a connect with Systematics Inc owner Jackson T. Stephens (note Stephens LLC) and Bush, Ronmey and CIA.
Note that the Stephen’s family spent 3.2 M against Trump.
Note the Hillary while at the Rose Law Firm represented Systematics.
FusionGPS is owned by Glenn Simpson is married to Mary Jacoby.
Note that Mary Jacoby is connected with the Stephen’s through Systematics via Jon E. M. Jacoby who is a Vice Chair at guess what “Stephens LLC.
Mr. Jon E. M. Jacoby serves as a Senior Managing Director and Vice Chairman at The Stephens Group, LLC since July 2006. Mr. Jacoby specializes in the creation of imaginative financial structures that accommodate the needs of all parties to a transaction as the basis of an ongoing partnership dedicated to value creation. He served as a Senior Executive Vice President of Stephens Inc. until September 2003 and is associated with Stephens since 1963
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=329232&privcapId=23119
The Uniparty stinks and need to be exposed.
Don’t be fooled by the Stephen’s group:
Stephens Inc. Privately owned investment bank based in Little Rock, Arkansas
I can’t wait to here Morris drooling over the ideal that Romney or Egg McMuffin are Utah’s next Senators.
They better win it before the sh%% hits the fan.
The connection between the Stephens and the GOP and the Clinton’s is the UNIPARTY.
Follow the money.
Sorry my auto-correct messed up my grammar. I need to preview more.
I could see Romney wearing a pussy hat.
Apparently Utahians are not very bright.
Yes. You’re known for your….
1. insane lies
2. hallucinations, and
3. hatred for “the people”.
3. No, I don’t count you as people.
You’re more like a cockroach, nasty, dirty, and universally despised.
Yes. You’re known for your….
1. insane lies
2. hallucinations, and
3. hatred for “the people”.
3. No, I don’t count you as people.
You’re more like a cockroach, nasty, dirty, and universally despised.
“Apparently Utahians are not very bright.”
This sort of sinful pride is what both social media and the GOPe encourage in the base.
As a resident of AZ who has spent several years studying McCain’s record, I can tell you that the basis for all GOPe squishes getting elected is a variation on “restricting voter choice.”
Nobody whom you’re criticizing is actually stupid. They’re simply making the best possible choice between a bad GOPe candidate and a worse Democrat candidate. If you want that to end, you need to pay more attention in the primaries. That’s where elections are almost always won or lost (depending on when the establishment screw job comes).
Alabamians were “duped”…
We ousted Bob Bennett in the precinct caucuses. The cycle before that one, we had maybe 10 people in the caucus meeting. The year Bennett was up for re-election, about the time of the first Tea Parties, we had over 60. His shill was voted down by a HUGE majority for state delegate. It was brutal for him.
Unfortunately, Hatch was watching. And his GOPe posse took notes. And when he was up for re-election, we had people coming out to vote for him that I have not seen at a caucus since.
And around that time, we had a very well-funded “bipartisan” group touting “one person-one vote” and getting rid of the caucus system for deciding pre-primary candidates. Co-incidence? I don’t think so. Hatch has a strangle hold on the politics of this state, and his surrogates at county GOP meetings are rude, loud, and demanding.
By choice, I would not be a precinct chair. I would not even be a registered R. But as Matt pointed out, in this state, the R will win. And if I want to influence which R that is, I have to be registered R, and as Precinct chair, I can make a more libertarian tract in the county party. It is what it is.
It’s like this almost everywhere.
The naivite of the base is almost painful to watch sometimes. The people who run the party DO THIS FOR A LIVING, so you can believe they know all the tricks. The party machine hires people to fill slots or strokes their egos with power. Compared to that kind of professional corruption, the Tea Party didn’t stand a chance.
They only succeeded in the first years due to the element of surprise. Now, the GOP establishment is ready for them and they start their smear campaigns very early to prep the battlefield.
I didn’t say others were bright. Voting for smucks is what got us in this mess.
I live in NC with Burr and Tillis. Need I tell you how smart us Carolinians are? That would include South Carolina as well with Graham and Scott. Aren’t we lucky?
Much prefer an actual Conservative to replace Hatch.
This is Utah, after all, we can do much better than a RINO squish like Romney.
Senator Orrin Hatch finally got a spine denouncing the Dem’s favorite talking point about tax cuts being only for the wealthy. Where has his voice been all these years? Curious to see how his net worth increased after all these years in the U.S. Senate.