Utah Sen. Mitt Romney has long said he doesn’t want Donald Trump to be elected president in November, but he predicts the Republican nominee will win because Democrats have staked out liberal social positions that have alienated potentially persuadable voters.
“I think the reason the Democrat Party is in trouble this year and, in my opinion, will likely lose the presidential race … not because of their policy, but because of the positions they’ve taken on cultural issues,” Romney said Tuesday, speaking to students at The University of Utah as part of a panel hosted by The Sutherland Institute. “They have let people talk about defunding the police and biological males going into women’s sports. And that drove a lot of people just nuts.”
Speaking to reporters afterward, the senator elaborated, saying that over the past 12 years, Democrats’ focus on “the drug culture, wokism, the defund the police, the transgender efforts, those things moved a lot of working-class voters out of the Democratic Party.”
Diane Lewis, chair of the Utah Democratic Party, disagreed with Romney’s pessimistic assessment, saying the party has seen a wave of excitement in recent weeks. And, she said, the Harris campaign is focused on issues that are important to voters.
“‘Wokism’ — I haven’t heard anyone say that in I don’t know how long,” she said. “I think those issues have not surfaced to the top because [the Harris campaign] is talking about kitchen table issues. They’re talking about the economy. … I think we’re in a place where voters want change and she is going to be the change that we need.”
Romney said he remains steadfast that he does not want Trump to win the election, but he won’t endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as some — like former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney — have done because he wants to have a hand in reshaping the post-Trump Republican Party.
“I’ve made it very clear that I don’t want Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States, and you’re gonna have to do the very difficult calculation of what that would mean,” Romney said when asked why he hasn’t endorsed Harris.
“My own view is that I want to continue to have a voice in the Republican Party following this election because I think there’s a good shot that the Republican Party is going to need to be rebuilt and reoriented — either after this election or, if Donald Trump is reelected, after he’s the president,” Romney said. “I believe I will have influence in the party by virtue of saying it as I’ve said it.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sen. Mitt Romney speaks at the Hinckley Institute of Politics in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024.
Republican Rep. John Curtis, who currently represents Utah’s 3rd Congressional District, faces Democrat Caroline Gleich, a professional mountaineer and environmental activist, to replace Romney in the Senate next year.
Foreign adversaries have chosen sides in which of the two presidential contenders they are backing, the Utah senator, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said.
Russia is focusing its efforts on returning Trump to the White House, he said, based on briefings by the U.S. intelligence agencies. Iran, meanwhile, is working to elect Harris, Romney said, although Russia’s operation is much more sophisticated.
The election influence efforts, he said, have largely been limited to disinformation campaigns on social media and there is no indication that any nation has tried to tamper with the actual voting systems since they are not connected to the internet and can’t simply be hacked.
Trump is spreading his own stream of disinformation, Romney said.
“The amount of disinformation is really extraordinary, not just being put out by the Russians and the Chinese,” Romney said. “I mean, former President Trump told us that people in Springfield are eating dogs and cats. He likewise said that FEMA money, instead of helping the people that have been hit with a hurricane, is being used to help [illegal immigrants]. I mean, he just makes it up, and he is able to spew enough disinformation that the Chinese must be smiling.”
