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| jr/sr = United States Senator
| state = [[Utah]]
| alongside = [[Mike Lee]]
| term_start = January 3, 2019
| term_end = <!--January 3, 2025-->
| predecessor = [[Orrin Hatch]]
| successor = <!-- [[John Curtis (Utah politician)|John Curtis]] (elect) -->
| order1 = 70th [[Governor of Massachusetts]]
| lieutenant1 = [[Kerry Healey]]
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| parents = [[George W. Romney]]<br />[[Lenore Romney|Lenore LaFount]]
| relatives = [[Romney family]]
| education = {{nowrapubl |[[Stanford University]]<br> |[[Brigham Young University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}}<br />|[[Harvard University]] ([[Juris Doctor|JD]], [[Master of Business Administration|MBA]])}}
| awards = ''[[#Awards and honors|List of honors and awards]]''
| signature = Mitt Romney Signature.svg
| website = {{url|romney.senate.gov|Senate website}}
| module = {{Listen
|pos = center
|embed = yes
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|title = Romney's voice
|type = speech
|description = Romney's remarks on [[2021 United States Electoral College vote count#Announcements of planned Electoral College vote count objections|objections to the certification ofcertifying the electoral results]] following the [[January 6 United States Capitol attack|January 6 Capitol attack]]<br />Recorded January 6, 2021}}
}}
{{Mitt Romney series}}
<!-- NOTE ABOUT THE LEAD: Before considering any changes to the lead, please consult the consensus established at Talk:Mitt_Romney/GA2#Politician and more recent discussion at Talk:Mitt_Romney -->
'''Willard Mitt Romney''' (born March 12, 1947) is an American retired politician, businessman, and lawyerbusinessman servingwho as the junior [[United States Senate|United States senator]] from [[Utah]] since 2019. He served aswas the 70th [[governor of Massachusetts]] from 2003 to 2007 and was, the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]'s nominee for [[president of the United States]] in the [[2012 United States presidential election|2012 election]], and a [[United States Senate|United States senator]] from [[Utah]] from 2019 to 2025.
 
Mitt Romney is the son of [[George W. Romney]], a former governor of [[Michigan]]. Raised in [[Bloomfield Hills, Michigan]], heMitt spent over two years in France as a [[Mormon missionary]]. He married [[Ann Romney|Ann Davies]] in 1969; they have five sons. Active in [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) throughout his adult life, Romney served as [[Bishop (Latter Day Saints)|bishop]] of his [[Ward (LDS Church)|ward]] and later as a [[Stake (LDS Church)|stake president]] for an area covering Boston and many of its suburbs. By 1971, he had participated in the political campaigns of both his parents. In 1971, Romney graduated with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in [[English studies|English]] from [[Brigham Young University]] (BYU) and in 1975 he received a [[JD–MBA]] degree from [[Harvard University|Harvard]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/successful-people-with-english-majors-2013-5 |first1=Vivian |last1=Giang |first2=Lynne |last2=Guey |first3=Max |last3=Nisen |date=May 16, 2013 |work=[[Business Insider]] |title=16 Wildly Successful People Who Majored In English |access-date=July 8, 2019 |archive-date=October 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031202453/https://www.businessinsider.com/successful-people-with-english-majors-2013-5 |url-status=live }}</ref> He became a management consultant and in 1977 joined [[Bain & Company]] in [[Boston]]. As Bain's [[chief executive officer]] (CEO), he helped lead the company out of a financial crisis<!-- this is supported by detailed material and sources in body of article -->. In 1984, he co-founded and led the spin-off company [[Bain Capital]], a [[private equity]] investment firm that became one of the [[List of private equity firms|largest of its kind]] in the nation.<!-- this is supported by detailed material and sources in body of article -->
 
After stepping down from his positions at Bain Capital and in the LDS Church, Romney ran as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts in [[1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1994]] and lost to the incumbent, [[Ted Kennedy]]. He then resumed his position at Bain Capital. Years later, a successful stint as president and CEO of the then-struggling [[Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002|Salt Lake Organizing Committee]] for the [[2002 Winter Olympics]] led to a relaunch of his political career. Elected governor of Massachusetts in [[2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial election|2002]], Romney helped develop and later signed a [[Massachusetts health care reform|health care reform]] law (commonly called "Romneycare") that provided near-universal health insurance access through state-level subsidies and [[health insurance mandate|individual mandates to purchase insurance]]. He also presided over the elimination of a projected $1.2–1.5 billion deficit through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and closing corporate [[tax loopholes]]. He did not seek reelection in [[2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial election|2006]], instead focusing on his campaign [[2008 Republican Party presidential primaries|for the Republican nomination in the 2008 presidential election]], which he lost to Senator [[John McCain]]. Romney ran for president again four years later and was the Republican nominee in the [[2012 Republican presidential nomination|2012 presidential election]], becoming the first LDS Church member to be a [[major party]]'s nominee. He lost the election to President [[Barack Obama]]. After reestablishing residency in Utah, Romney ran for [[U.S. Senate]] in [[2018 United States Senate election in Utah|2018]]. When Romney won the Republican nomination and general election, he became the first person in modern American history to be elected governor and U.S. senator of different states.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schott |first=Bryan |date=September 12, 2017 |title=Romney could be first person to be a Governor and Senator for two different states in more than 100 years |url=https://utahpolicy.com/archive/14304-romney-could-be-first-person-to-be-a-governor-and-senator-for-two-different-states-in-more-than-100-years |access-date=October 2, 2024 |website=Utah Policy}}</ref>
 
Generally considered a [[Moderate Republican (modern United States)|moderate or more neoconservative Republican]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 27, 2022 |title=Is Mitt Romney doing a good job in the Senate? More Democrats than Republicans in Utah think so |url=https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/7/27/23280627/mitt-romney-job-approval-rating-senate-washington-centrist-moderate-bipartisan-utah-poll |access-date=August 20, 2022 |website=[[Deseret News]] |language=en |archive-date=August 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820172201/https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/7/27/23280627/mitt-romney-job-approval-rating-senate-washington-centrist-moderate-bipartisan-utah-poll |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=February 3, 2022 |title=Are Republicans showing Mitt Romney more love? New Utah poll has the answers |url=https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/2/2/22913085/do-republicans-like-mitt-romney-poll-numbers-joe-biden-donald-trump-hinckley-inistitute-utah |access-date=August 20, 2022 |website=[[Deseret News]] |language=en |archive-date=August 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820172200/https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/2/2/22913085/do-republicans-like-mitt-romney-poll-numbers-joe-biden-donald-trump-hinckley-inistitute-utah |url-status=live }}</ref> Romney was the lone Republican to vote to convict [[Donald Trump]] in his [[First impeachment trial of Donald Trump|first impeachment trial]], making him the first senator ever to have voted to remove a president of the same party from office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2020/2/5/21125118/mitt-romney-impeachment-vote-history|title= Mitt Romney just did something that literally no senator has ever done before|website= [[Vox (website)|Vox]]|date= February 5, 2020|accessdate= January 1, 2023|archive-date= January 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102014601/https://www.vox.com/2020/2/5/21125118/mitt-romney-impeachment-vote-history|url-status= live}}</ref> Romney also voted to convict in Trump's [[Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump|second trial]] in 2021. He marched alongside [[Black Lives Matter]] protestors, voted to [[Ketanji Brown Jackson Supreme Court nomination|confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson]] to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]], supported [[Bipartisan Safer Communities Act|gun control]] measures, and did not vote for Trump in the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016]] and [[2020 United States presidential election|2020]] presidential elections. He has long been hawkish on issues such as [[Iran–United States relations|Iran]], [[China–United States relations|China]], and [[Russia–United States relations|Russia]], and is one of [[Israel]]'s staunchest supporters in Congress. He has been accused by Trump loyalists of being a [[Republican in Name Only|Republican In Name Only]]. In 2023, Romney announced he would not run for [[2024 United States Senate election in Utah|reelection in 2024]] and would retire from the Senate when his term expiresexpired in 2025.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Balz |first=Dan |date=September 13, 2023 |title=Mitt Romney says he will not seek a second term in the Senate |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/13/mitt-romney-senate-reelection/ |access-date=September 13, 2023 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=September 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230913213815/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/13/mitt-romney-senate-reelection/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
==Early life and education==
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For much of his business career, Romney did not take public political stances.<ref name="hersh-139">Hersh, ''The Shadow President'', p. 139.</ref><ref>Canellos, ''The Last Lion'', p. 295.</ref> He had kept abreast of national politics since college,<ref name="nyt-searching" /> and the circumstances of his father's presidential campaign loss had irked him for decades.<ref name="ap-2007-prof" /> He registered as an [[Independent (voter)|Independent]]<ref name="bgseries4" /> and voted in the [[Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1992|1992 presidential primaries]] for the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] former senator from Massachusetts, [[Paul Tsongas]].<ref name="hersh-139" /><ref name="slate-ceo">{{cite news|url=https://slate.com/business/2007/02/how-mitt-romney-s-corporate-success-explains-his-campaign-and-his-flip-flops.html|title=The CEO Candidate|author=Gross, Daniel|magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=February 26, 2007|author-link=Daniel Gross (journalist)|access-date=February 6, 2020|archive-date=February 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206120214/https://slate.com/business/2007/02/how-mitt-romney-s-corporate-success-explains-his-campaign-and-his-flip-flops.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
By 1993, Romney had begun thinking about entering politics, partly on Ann's urging and also to follow in his father's footsteps.<ref name="bgseries4" /> He decided to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Senatorsenator [[Ted Kennedy]], who was seeking reelection to a sixth term. Political pundits viewed Kennedy as vulnerable that year, in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole, and in part because this was Kennedy's first election since the [[William Kennedy Smith#Sexual assault accusations|William Kennedy Smith trial]] in Florida, in which Kennedy's reputation had suffered.<ref name="ted-bg-series-5" /><ref>{{Cite news|author=Marcus, Ruth|title=Clinton Gets a Sense of the Real Thing; Kennedy and Massachusetts Democrats Put on a Campaign Rally|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=October 21, 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4LEaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6812,1794559|title=Ted Kennedy lacks luster as he seeks re-election|author=Trott, Robert W.|agency=[[Associated Press]]|newspaper=[[The Daily News (Kentucky)|Daily News]]|location=Bowling Green, Kentucky|date=July 17, 1994|page=12C|access-date=February 6, 2020|archive-date=February 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208095737/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4LEaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6812,1794559|url-status=live}}</ref> Romney changed his affiliation to [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] in October 1993 and formally announced his candidacy in February 1994.<ref name="bgseries4" /> In addition to his leave from [[Bain Capital]], Romney also stepped down from his church leadership role in 1994.<ref name="lat-church" />
 
Radio personality Janet Jeghelian took an early lead in polls among candidates for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat, but Romney proved the most effective fundraiser.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8273657.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502155821/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8273657.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 2, 2013|title=Romney leads GOP Senate hopefuls in race for funds|first=Frank|last=Phillips|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=April 5, 1994}}</ref><ref>Hersh, ''The Shadow President'', pp. 124, 126–127.</ref> He won 68% of the vote at the May 1994 [[Massachusetts Republican Party]] convention; businessman [[John Lakian]] finished a distant second, eliminating Jeghelian.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8279357.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502183752/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8279357.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 2, 2013|title=Romney wins GOP approval; Given the nod for US Senate|first=Frank|last=Phillips|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=May 15, 1994}}</ref> Romney defeated Lakian in the September 1994 primary with more than 80% of the vote.<ref name="crim102194" /><ref>{{Cite news|title=Romney will oppose Sen. Kennedy in Nov|agency=[[Associated Press]]|newspaper=[[The Providence Journal]]|date=September 21, 1994|page=B1}}</ref>
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With his election, Romney became the third person to have served as governor of one state and senator from another state.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://editions.lib.umn.edu/smartpolitics/2017/09/14/mitt-romney-prepares-for-unusual-us-senate-bid/|title=Mitt Romney Prepares for Unusual US Senate Bid {{!}} Smart Politics|website=editions.lib.umn.edu|language=en-CA|access-date=April 1, 2018|date=September 14, 2017}}</ref> (The other two were [[William Wyatt Bibb|William W. Bibb]], who served as a [[List of United States senators from Georgia|U.S. senator from Georgia]] and then the first [[List of governors of Alabama|governor of Alabama]], and [[Sam Houston]], who was the sixth [[governor of Tennessee]] before becoming a [[List of United States senators from Texas|U.S. senator from Texas]].)<ref name=":0" />
 
==U.S. Senate (2019–present2019–2025)==
 
===Tenure===
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In July 2020, Romney, along with [[Pat Toomey]], was one of two Republican U.S. Senators who condemned Trump's decision to commute the sentence of [[Roger Stone]], which Romney described as "Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/11/republicans-denounce-roger-stone-commutation-357259|title=Historic corruption': 2 Republican senators denounce Trump's commutation of Stone|first=Andrew|last= Desiderio|publisher=[[Politico]]|date=July 11, 2020|access-date=July 12, 2020}}</ref>
 
In September 2020, Romney said the Republicans' decision to [[Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court nomination|nominate]] and confirm [[Amy Coney Barrett]] as an [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]] before the [[2020 United States presidential election|2020 presidential election]] was fair: "the circumstance where a nominee of a president is from a different party than the Senate then, more often than not, the Senate does not confirm. So the [[Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination|Garland decision]] was consistent with that. On the other hand, when there's a nominee of a party that is in the same party as the Senate, then typically they do confirm."<ref>{{cite news |title=How Republicans Quickly Lined Up to Confirm a Supreme Court Nominee |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/how-republicans-quickly-lined-up-to-confirm-a-supreme-court-nominee/ |work=National Review |date=September 26, 2020 |access-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-date=September 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929003211/https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/how-republicans-quickly-lined-up-to-confirm-a-supreme-court-nominee/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Sherman |first1=Jake |last2=Palmer |first2=Anna |last3=Ross |first3=Garrett |last4=Okun |first4=Eli |date=2020-09-22 |title=POLITICO Playbook PM: McConnell plows ahead |url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2020/09/22/mcconnell-plows-ahead-490404 |access-date=January 4, 2025 |website=Politico |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250104180254/https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2020/09/22/mcconnell-plows-ahead-490404?__cf_chl_rt_tk=FWGQDm7IypOPla3ADoNxhZKPqJt_BK.c3RacFq.Tr5g-1736013774-1.0.1.1-iL3XMTUQiyxDljU7xyRcE66s6qt_1WXxNP84yPZ07Pc |archive-date=January 4, 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>
 
In June 2024, Romney proposed a framework to mitigate the [[existential risk from artificial general intelligence]] along with Senators [[Jack Reed (Rhode Island politician)|Jack Reed]], [[Jerry Moran]], and [[Angus King]]. Romney said he would like to see regulation that "would restrict the types of actions that could lead to existential, or health, or other serious consequences".<ref>{{Cite web |last=mshaw |date=2024-06-11 |title=Downplaying AI's existential risks is a fatal error, some say |url=https://rollcall.com/2024/06/11/downplaying-ais-existential-risks-is-a-fatal-error-some-say/ |access-date=June 23, 2024 |website=Roll Call |language=en-US}}</ref>
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* {{CongLinks | congbio=R000615 | votesmart=21942 | fec=S8UT00176 | congress=mitt-romney/R000615 }}
* {{C-SPAN|37242}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200205213032/https://wwwedition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/02/05/mitt-romney-trump-impeachment-trial-vote-announcement-full-vpx.cnn Video of his explanation to the Senate why he plans to vote to convict President Trump in the Senate impeachment trial] from [[CNN]]
 
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