WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who voted in favor of convicting former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, said Tuesday that Trump would likely beat the GOP field if he decides to run in the 2024 presidential election.
“I don't know if he'll run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I'm pretty sure he will win the nomination,” Romney said in an interview with the New York Times DealBook DC Policy Project.
Pressed on the prediction, Romney said, “I think he’d win the nomination if he runs. I mean a lot can happen between now and 2024.”
“I look at the polls, and the polls show that among the names being floated as potential contenders in 2024, if you put President Trump in there among Republicans, he wins in a landslide,” he added.
A recent Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 54 percent of GOP voters would support trump in a hypothetical matchup in 2024.
Trump has not said whether he plans to run again but is reportedly considering another bid. The former president vowed in a farewell video address that the movement he started "is only just beginning."
Romney, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, represents the establishment wing of the increasingly divided Republican Party and has frequently clashed with Trump. When asked if he would campaign against the former president, Romney did not answer directly, instead saying he “would not be voting for President Trump again.”
“I haven't voted for him in the past, and I would probably be getting behind somebody who I thought more represented the tiny wing of the Republican party that I represent,” he said.
Romney was among seven Republican senators earlier this month who joined Democrats in voting in favor of convicting Trump over his role in the events leading up to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. He is the only Republican senator to vote to convict Trump in both of his impeachment trials.
Trump, however, was ultimately acquitted in a 57-43 vote, short of the 67 total votes needed to convict him.
