Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch announces retirement, with speculation focused on Romney

The longest serving Republican senator in American history is finally ready to call it quits.

Utah GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch announced on Tuesday that he will not run for reelection in 2018 and leave the Senate at the end of his current term, after 42 years in his seat.

“When the President visited Utah last month, he said I was a fighter. I’ve always been a fighter. I was an amateur boxer in my youth, and I brought that fighting spirit with me to Washington,” Hatch said in a video statement. “But every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves. And for me, that time is soon approaching.”

Hatch, 83, is the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. He worked with the Trump administration on the major tax bill that passed just before Christmas. It was an ambitious legislative goal that will cap off his historic Senate career.

His retirement kicks off an open race for a reliably Republican Senate seat and a familiar name is at the top of the list for the GOP nomination: Mitt Romney.

The failed 2012 GOP presidential nominee and former Massachusetts governor has deep familial and political ties in Utah due to his Mormon faith and his successful management of the once-troubled 2002 Winter Olympics in Park City. His family maintains a residence in the state, and Romney hosts an annual political gathering in Utah popular with the GOP party establishment.

At a time when voters rally around outsiders, Romney is a consummate insider. While he would clearly be favored by the national party and top donors for the nomination, he could face a primary fight from the activist right.

Yet Romney’s criticism of President Trump may not be as politically damaging in Utah, where the president has struggled to gain a foothold with the state’s socially conservative voters.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz handily won Utah in the 2016 presidential caucus–Trump came in third after Florida Sen. Marco Rubio–and Trump won the 2016 general election with just 45% of the vote. In contrast, Romney carried Utah with nearly 73% of the vote in the 2012 presidential election.

He will also likely enjoy Hatch’s support. In March, the senator hinted then that he might opt to retire if Romney would run to replace him. Hatch told National Journal that Romney would be “perfect” for the Senate. An unusual factor could be Romney’s age. At 70, he would be making his first bid for Congress. However, many senators serve well in to their 80’s and Romney’s popularity would likely overcome any concerns about his age.

“I’ve expressed it to him. I can see why he might not want to do it, but I can also see why if he did it, it would be a great thing for America,” Hatch said then.

While Romney would enter the Senate at the bottom rung of seniority, his national profile and personal popularity could elevate him almost immediately into a position of influence in the clubby Senate. The closest analogy would be former Sen. Hillary Clinton, who won a New York Senate seat in 2000 after serving eight years as first lady.

If Romney won, he would also enter at a time when major moderate GOP voices critical of Trump like Tennessee’s Bob Corker and Arizona’s Jeff Flake are leaving. Both have announced they, too, will retire at the end of 2018 instead of running again.

As the longest-serving senator in the majority, Hatch also serves as Senate pro tempore, which puts him third in the line of succession to the presidency after Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

If Senate Republicans hold their majority, Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran is poised to serve as Senate pro tempore in the next Congress.

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