Mitt Romney Reportedly Launching a Campaign to Become Senator of Utah

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It looks like Mitt Romney wants to be Utah’s next senator. Talk that he would be launching a bid for the seat has been swirling for the past month, but sources confirmed to the Washington Examiner that he would be formally announcing his candidacy on Thursday.

On Monday, Romney posted a message on Facebook making his intentions obvious. “Stay tuned for my announcement on the Utah Senate race this Thursday,” it read. “Visit www.mittromney.com to be one of the first to know!”

Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts and was the Republican candidate for the 2012 presidential election. He currently lives in Utah, where his late mother was originally from. Helped by the fact that he’s a Mormon, Romney already enjoys high popularity in the heavily Mormon state.

Utah’s current senator, Orrin Hatch, announced in January that he planned to retire at the end of the year and soon after began propping Romney up as his ideal replacement.

“There’s no question that he loves Utah and wants to support Utah any way he can. And I’m hopeful he’ll run, because he would be just fine,” he said last month. “And he would certainly be somebody who I think could succeed me into the job. We haven’t spoken in the last few days, but if Mitt decides to run, he knows he’ll have my support.”

Though having Republican Romney become Utah’s next senator is far from a victory for Democrats, it’s guaranteed to annoy Trump, who was pushing heavily for an Orrin Hatch re-election. Hatch is one of Trump’s most loyal supporters in the GOP, whereas Romney was one of his harshest Republican critics during the 2016 election. While Romney has significantly decreased his attacks on Trump, he still occasionally speaks out against him. Since Trump can’t handle any criticism whatsoever, he’ll likely be set off by news of Romney’s probable new career as a senator.