Here's How Mitt Romney Is Looking to Get Involved in the 2024 Presidential ElectionRebecca Downs
July 24, 2023
It is no secret that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) isn't a fan of former and potentially future President Donald Trump. Now, he's calling on donors to help narrow the playing field so as to stop Trump from earning the nomination through winner-take-all primary contests. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal published his op-ed, "Donors, Don’t Fund a Trump Plurality."
As Romney himself acknowledges, Trump's currently enjoying an "apparent inevitability." RealClearPolitics (RCP) shows him with a spread in the Republican primary of +33.3. But, as Romney goes on to mention, another candidate might have a chance of becoming the nominee "if the field narrows to a two-person race before Mr. Trump has the nomination sewn up." That's going to require learning the lesson not learned in time for 2016 though.
"For that to happen, Republican megadonors and influencers—large and small—are going to 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," Romney continues his opening paragraph with, urging that decision to be made by February 26, after the early state contests of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. Romney even later writes that "[d]onors who are backing someone with a slim chance of winning should seek a commitment from the candidate to drop out and endorse the person with the best chance of defeating Mr. Trump by Feb. 26."
Before Trump ultimately clinched the nomination for 2016, he ran in a crowded primary then too. Among the last to drop out included Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and then Gov. John Kasich (R-OH).
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Source:
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/rebeccadowns/2023/07/24/heres-how-mitt-romney-is-looking-to-get-involved-in-the-2024-presidential-election-n2626137
