Mitt Romney Issues Warning to 2024 Republican Candidates

Utah senator says weak candidates should leave the race or else

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) speaks on the Senate floor about the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Feb. 5, 2020. (Senate Television via AP)

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) suggested that certain 2024 Republican candidates should drop out of the race because it would foment what he described as a “Trump plurality” that would essentially hand former President Donald Trump the GOP nomination.

“Despite Donald Trump’s apparent inevitability, a baker’s dozen Republicans are hoping to become the party’s 2024 nominee for president. That is possible for any of them if the field narrows to a two-person race before Mr. Trump has the nomination sewn up,” he wrote in an opinion article for the Wall Street Journal, published this week.

Mr. Romney, a frequent critic of the former president who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2008 and 2012, outlined a strategy to stop Mr. Trump’s presidential ambitions.

Without providing a blueprint for how to do it, the senator said that Republican influencers and “megadonors” would “have to do something they didn’t do in 2016: get candidates they support to agree to withdraw if and when their paths to the nomination are effectively closed.” Such a decision, he argued, should come no later than Feb. 26, 2024, or the Monday following the primary contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.

“Left to their own inclinations, expect several of the contenders to stay in the race for a long time. They will split the non-Trump vote, giving him the prize. A plurality is all that is needed for winner-take-all primaries,” he wrote.

Mr. Romney noted that some candidates likely will not throw in the towel because they will be advised by campaign staffers and consultants “who want to keep their jobs for as long as possible” and have no obligation to pay attention to Republican Party officials. “They buck up candidates, promoting long-shot prospects and favorably biased internal polls,” he said.

In his article, the Utah Republican did not name any of the GOP candidates that he believes should be the nominee or who he would support. He only mentioned Mr. Trump, but in derisive terms.

Instead, he called on Republicans to name a “nominee with character” who is “preferably from the next generation.” Without elaborating, he also said that family, friends, and campaign donors are the only ones who can get a “lost-cause candidate” to exit.

Previously, Mr. Romney has heaped praise on Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who announced his presidential bid several months ago. However, Mr. Romney has stopped short of endorsing the South Carolina senator.

“He’s someone who I would be happy if he became president of the United States,” he told NBC News earlier this year. “There are a number of people who I feel that way about; he’s certainly one of them.”

Poll Numbers

Polls have shown that Mr. Trump is by far the No. 1 candidate among the GOP crowd. A recent survey published by the Economist and YouGov found he enjoys 54 percent support, whereas the No. 2, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, only has 18 percent.

The poll found that businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has seen his numbers rise in recent days, getting some 6 percent support in the survey. Former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, and Mr. Scott all got 3 percent each.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie garnered 1 percent, according to the poll. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez got 0 percent, it shows.

(Left-to-right) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former President Donald Trump, and Vivek Ramaswamy speak during the Vision 2024 National Conservative Forum at the Charleston Area Convention Center in Charleston, S.C., on March 18, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images; Mario Tama/Getty Images; Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images)

That same Economist and YouGov poll also found that in a hypothetical general election, President Joe Biden would get 44 percent, while Mr. Trump would get 40 percent.

But other than the recent survey, Mr. Trump has consistently generated around or over 50 percent in national polling averages since the start of the year—despite having been indicted on federal and state charges. In a recent poll from Fox Business, the former president nabbed more than 50 percent in Iowa and South Carolina—two early states—when combining first and second choices.

A poll Tuesday from Monmouth University also appeared to provide a scenario that Mr. Romney may prefer, showing the results of a one-on-one contest between Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis. In that survey, Mr. Trump defeated Mr. DeSantis by about 20 percentage points. In another hypothetical one-on-one matchup, Mr. Trump dominated Mr. Scott by about 50 points.

At the same time, Mr. DeSantis, who some hoped could out-flank Mr. Trump from the right, has been forced to recalibrate his campaign strategy to focus more on Iowa, his national policies, and Mr. Trump.

“As soon as Trump got indicted, DeSantis started to sink despite the fact they were spending large amounts of money in mail and on television here in New Hampshire. So in the background on everything that happens, Trump is standing right there,” Neil Levesque, director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, stated on its “New Hampshire Live” radio show.