Sen. Mitt Romney says he wants Democrat Joe Manchin to run for president but claims him endorsing any 2024 candidate is a ‘kiss of death’
- Republican Senator Mitt Romeny said he would not support any candidate in the 2024 elections.
- Claims his support would be the ‘kiss of death’ for their campaign
- The Utah senator said he wants his colleague Sen. Joe Manchin to run as a Democrat.
Republican Sen. Mitt Romeny is reluctant to endorse anyone for president because he believes putting his name behind any candidate would be the “kiss of death” as he prepares to leave Congress at the end of his term in 2025.
The Utah senator wants his colleague Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) on the Democratic ticket rather than President Joe Biden.
While Romeny did not reveal on Sunday who he plans to vote for, he said he absolutely would not vote for former President Donald Trump.
He also praised former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, but said his vote in Utah doesn’t matter because it’s deep Trump country.
“I hope someone other than President Biden is the Democratic nominee. Let’s see who it might be,” Romney told NBC News Meet the Press Kristen Welker on Sunday morning.
Senator Mitt Romeny says he won’t endorse any candidate in the 2024 election because it would be the ‘kiss of death’ for their campaign
Asked whether he would vote for Biden if it were between him and Trump in 2024, Romney replied: “The Joe I’d like to vote for is Joe Manchin.”
“I’m not going to tell you now who I’m going to vote for,” he added. “Utah will be for Donald Trump, so it doesn’t matter.”
Manchin, a moderate Democrat, announced he will not seek re-election to his longtime West Virginia Senate seat. This further fueled speculation that he plans to file a third-party bid in 2024.
But Romney, an anti-Trump Republican who also left Congress at the end of his term, said he doesn’t think Manchin plans to run in this election.
“No, I don’t, but I would like him to do it,” the senator told Welker when asked whether Manchin might run. “I would like him to be the Democratic candidate.”
“By the way, there are a couple of Democrats who I think would be a better candidate than President Biden.”
Romney said he was thinking about Emba. Haley has the best chance of becoming the Republican nominee other than Trump, but she acknowledged that is still unlikely.
Trump leads national polls by at least 40 points and remains the leader in statewide polls.
Romney says he’d like Sen. Joe Manchin to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2024
Christie, Romney claims, is the reason Trump has so far refused to show up to any of the four Republican presidential primary debates.
“If I support someone, it will be the kiss of death. I’m not going to do that,” Romney said Sunday.
“Should I now support the person I like least?” he joked. “Obviously, I’m not going to support President Trump. I made this clear.
“Listen, Chris Christie did an amazing job. I think his participation in the race kept Donald Trump out of the debate,” the Utah senator explained. “Because I think Donald Trump realized that if he went to debate Chris Christie, Chris Christie would expose him for who he is, and Trump would be very hurt.”
Romeny has all but ruled out voting for Trump or Biden, saying it’s a choice between “someone who’s too old and someone who’s too crazy.”