House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy warned that Democrats choosing Joe Biden as their 2020 presidential nominee could play out similarly to Republicans picking now-Utah Sen. Mitt Romney in 2012.
“One thing they have to understand, and looking back as a Republican, nominating Joe Biden is the same thing as Republicans nominating Mitt Romney,” McCarthy said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures. “It may make the establishment look good, but you have no chance of winning.”
Romney has drawn criticism from President Trump and his defenders in Congress after the Utah Republican, who was the party’s nominee for president in 2012, voted to convict Trump on one article of impeachment for abuse of power. As impeachment played out for weeks, Trump’s allies, such as McCarthy, called the process “a sham” and a “hoax.”
Biden is seen as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination this year after notching key wins on Super Tuesday in primaries across the country, including Texas, North Carolina, and Minnesota. Republicans, however, have been critical of Biden and his son Hunter, whose business dealings in Ukraine were at the center of Trump’s impeachment.
“Any elected office that uses their office or has their children who uses their office to get economic gain, where you’re getting $50,000 a month …” McCarthy said. “The Democrats should be the first person investigating this. All they’ve done with their majority is investigate, but the only place they wouldn’t investigate is Joe Biden because they care about politics instead of the rule of law.”
Romney lost in 2012 to former President Barack Obama by 4 percentage points.
