After his embarrassing loss against Barack Obama in 2012, Mitt Romney has been clamoring for relevance.
Attempting to be a U.S. Senator is his latest claim to fame.
But that may not happen after Romney was slapped with the worst news of his career.
It may be early in Mitt Romney’s campaign to be the U.S. Senator in Utah, but things already aren’t looking good for him.
Before he can run in the general election, where it is unlikely that any Republican would lose, he needs to win over the Republican base to get their nomination.
He had a chance to do that over the weekend at the Utah GOP convention.
Any candidate who can garner the vote of 60% of the convention attendees would get the nomination, and not require facing a primary vote.
Mitt Romney had one major challenger on the convention floor.
And when voting time came, Romney could only pull together 49.12%, compared to his opponent, and Utah State Representative, Mike Kennedy who garnered 50.88% of the vote.
Now the two of them will be forced to compete in a primary election that will occur on June 26.
While Romney is favored to win the seat, the divisiveness of the convention attendees should make him nervous.
Across the country, Republicans are fighting back against establishment Republicans, and instead siding with candidates who fit more in the mold of Donald Trump.
As reported by CNN:
“Mitt Romney did not win the Utah Republican Party’s nomination on Saturday, meaning he must compete in a June primary election as he seeks to replace retiring US Sen. Orrin Hatch.
After a wild and raucous day of voting at the Utah GOP convention, the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee was unable to win the 60% that he needed to head to the November ballot unopposed. When none of the 12 candidates were able to cross that threshold, the party continued with successive rounds of caucus voting until one candidate reached 40%.
On the second round of voting, Utah state representative Mike Kennedy emerged in the lead with 50.88%. Romney came in a close second with 49.12%.
Romney and Kennedy will now compete in a primary set for June 26.
After the vote, Romney said he was looking forward to a primary race.
“This is terrific for the people of Utah, and I really want to thank the delegates who stayed so late to give me the kind of boost that I got here today,” Romney said, standing on the convention floor after the proceedings were adjourned. “We’re going to have a good primary.”
Kennedy, who had framed the race as David vs. Goliath, said when asked why he had edged out Romney in the vote that he wasn’t sure.
“I don’t know,” Kennedy said when asked why he thought his message appealed more to delegates than Romney’s. “I don’t know — it’s just my message.”
“We’ve got 60 days to reach out to as many voters as we can.””
Prior to his run for U.S. Senate, Mitt Romney was a vocal opponent of Donald Trump.
Now that he is looking to gain the trust of Republican voters, he has shifted and is now siding with the President.
But many Trump supporters aren’t buying his change of heart.
The election will likely come down to being establishment Republicans vs. the Trump insurgency.
Do you think Mitt Romney should be in the U.S. Senate?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
