As he departs the U.S. Senate after one term, Mitt Romney was praised by his colleagues from both sides of the aisle as a principled voice and a bipartisan problem-solver.
“Observers might have wondered what more a distinguished public servant like Mitt Romney had to prove in coming to Washington,” said outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, “but that would be a misunderstanding the way our friend has ordered his life. It wasn’t about what he had left to prove, but what he had left to give.”
Romney opted not to run for a second term after becoming reviled by many Utah Republicans for his opposition to Donald Trump during the president’s first term in office, including twice voting to impeach Trump. He will be replaced in January by Rep. John Curtis.
“I watched time and time again from this seat a person that put aside the desire for partisan adoration, for a deeper conviction to stand up for our nation,” said New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker. “I watched a man not confuse tribal celebrity with leadership significance … and saw it with my own eyes [him] being harassed in airports, being scorned for taking principled stands that he saw as the best way to try to hold our country together.”
Utah’s senior Sen. Mike Lee did not offer any remarks at Romney’s send-off on the Senate floor.
At Tuesday’s send-off, Romney recalled being invited to dinner by Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski for a meeting of a bipartisan group that became a gang of 10 senators who helped negotiate a COVID relief bill and laid the groundwork for passage of legislation on infrastructure investment, gun safety and marriage equality.
Left unfulfilled, Romney said, was his hope to bring down the national debt and warned that “our national credit card is almost maxed out.”
Romney credited his staff who he said did the heavy lifting during his time as Massachusetts governor, to running the 2002 Winter Olympics, and his Senate career. He also thanked his wife, Ann, and his family for their support.
Montana Sen. John Tester, a Democrat, said that his parents were both Democrats, as well, “but I’m gonna tell you that they would have loved Mitt Romney.”
“The reason they would have loved Mitt Romney is because Mitt Romney is not an idealist, [he is] somebody who looks at issues and tries to solve them, tries to get to ‘yes’ … without putting aside his principles,” Tester said.
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, encouraged his colleagues to follow Romney’s example.
“Let’s ask ourselves, over the next two or four years, ‘What would Mitt Romney do?’ And let that be a guiding post for those of us who are going to be here … to do right by this country,” Tillis said.
