Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
- Mitt Romney delivered a farewell address to the Senate, reflecting on bipartisan achievements and urging unity.
- Colleagues praised Romney's integrity and collaborative spirit, highlighting his influence on key legislation.
- Romney, known for bucking party lines, leaves the Senate after one term, emphasizing virtue and unity.
WASHINGTON — From George Washington leading the Continental Army during the American Revolution to Thomas Edison's experiments that led to the invention of the light bulb, Mitt Romney is impressed by figures who have accomplished something great as individuals.
His own career in public service — first as the governor of Massachusetts, then as the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, and now as junior senator from Utah — has been defined instead by collaboration, Romney told Senate colleagues Wednesday morning.
"During my life, I have rarely been truly alone — maybe taking tests at school or running cross-country or on my uncle's tractor cultivating corn," the senator said. "My life's work has been a group affair, and its center is my wife, Ann. She is my most trusted adviser, my indefatigable ally, the love of my life."
Romney, who is wrapping up his first and only term in the U.S. Senate, delivered a farewell address from the chamber floor, reflecting on several bipartisan accomplishments and projecting hope for the future of the nation.
"During my first months in the Senate, I was mostly on my own, and thus mostly unproductive," he said, before listing off the names of nine colleagues he worked closely with on a bipartisan infrastructure law, electoral counting reform, gun safety legislation and marriage legislation with religious protections. "We had each come to Washington to enact law that would help people, and that's just what we did. We accomplished together what we could have never done alone."
He also reflected on some of the accomplishments that failed to materialize during his tenure, mainly a fix to the national debt, which he said has been kept out of reach for years due to the "scourge of partisan politics."
Though he admits he "may not miss the Senate itself terribly much," Romney said he will miss his Senate colleagues, among whom he said "are some brilliant, some entertaining, some kind and generous, and all patriotic."
Romney called it "an honor" to represent Utah and praised the "admirable character of its people" that he said sets it apart from other states. He closed with the common refrain of "God bless America," but with an added call for unity.
"God has blessed America because America is good. There are some today who would tear at our unity, who would replace love with hate, who deride our foundation of virtue, or who debase the values upon which the blessings of heaven depend," he said. "A country's character is a reflection not just of its elected officials, but also of its people.
"I leave Washington to return to be one among them and hope to be a voice of unity and virtue. For it is only if the American people merit his benevolence that God will continue to bless America. May he do so, is my prayer."
'Moving the ball forward'
Senators from across the political spectrum rose to honor Romney following his remarks, including several who worked closely with him on key pieces of legislation over the years. Among them was West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat-turned-independent who was tied to Romney in rumors that the pair would run on a bipartisan presidential ticket earlier this year.
Like Romney, Manchin is departing the Senate after not seeking reelection to a third full term in office.
He described Romney pushing hard for preferred policies in the infrastructure bill before ultimately backing the proposal despite it falling short of some of the things he had fought for.
"I'm thinking, 'What the heck did we just go through?' (Romney) just beat the living crap out of us for about 30 days ... and (I was) thinking that he wasn't going to agree with it," Manchin said. "His basic comment was, 'This is better than what we've got. We're moving the ball forward.' And that, to me, is the clarity of purpose, the clarity of what he came for, is to move the ball forward, make it better, try to make a more perfect union."
"Mitt says, 'This is good. Can it be better? Sure, but it's good. Let's go,'" Manchin added. "And that was the signal we needed. It moved from there."
In his relatively short time in the Senate, Romney has developed a reputation as a lawmaker willing to buck the party line, particularly on issues involving President-elect Donald Trump. Romney was the first senator from his own party to vote to convict the president during Trump's first impeachment trial in 2020 and voted again to convict Trump for inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The impeachment votes were not mentioned on the floor Wednesday, but several colleagues praised Romney's values.
His seatmate, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, asked, "How many times ... Mitt, have your staff gone, 'Boss, we wish sometimes you just weren't so forthright and honest?'"
"But that is who this guy is," Tillis said, "and I've seen him — we've been battle buddies in a lot of the bipartisan efforts that have gone along — and he's the reason why some of them pass, quite honestly. Without his support, the support of a handful of others, stuff that has enduring, generational value would have never happened."
Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, said Romney is someone who doesn't "confuse tribal celebrity with leadership significance," and jokingly put forward a motion "to force him to stay in the Senate."
"I object," Romney said.
But Booker said he feels the chamber will be "lesser" without Romney but added, "The one thing that gives me hope is because the light that he has shined into this place will endure, and perhaps many of us, as he departs, will try our best — despite the forces that pull us apart — to try our best to pick up the work that he has left behind."
Longtime Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, noted that "on the bingo cards of American politics, the governor of Massachusetts-senator from Utah combination isn't known to be hit very often."
"Mitt Romney's repeated success in public office is a testament to his transcendent appeal of his character. As it turns out, uncompromising honesty, earnest humility and evident devotion to faith and family are as compelling in Cedar City as they are in Concord," McConnell said. "It's good to explain that his life isn't defined by the outcome of (an) election and that his deepest meaning comes from his faith and his relationship with his family."
