WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — Mitt Romney on Saturday suffered a disappointing but ultimately meaningless snub from grassroots Republicans when delegates to the state party convention declined to endorse his bid for U.S. Senate.
Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, came up short to Mike Kennedy, an attorney and physician, in a vote of more than 3,300 delegates. But Romney is nonetheless in the pole position to capture his party’s nomination for Senate. He submitted petitions to appear on the regular June primary ballot, and is expected to defeat Kennedy — whose convention finish earned him the right to join Romney in that contest — with minimal trouble.
Before the vote, Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, told the Washington Examiner that “regardless of what happens today … he’ll do very well in a primary.” Cox knows from experience. He and Gov. Gary Herbert came up short in the 2016 nominating convention, only to bury their Republican challengers in the primary election a couple months later.
From there, Romney should advance to an easy general election win. Utah is among the most Republican states in the nation, and he has the broad support of rank-and-file voters.
The Utah Republican Party nominating convention, convened in a minor league hockey arena in suburban Salt Lake City, was never going to be friendly territory for Romney. Most delegates are anti-establishment and prefer outsider candidates. Kennedy was a delegate favorite, and it showed as they gave him a rousing sendoff as his speech concluded.
Kennedy trailed Romney roughly 46 percent to 41 percent after round one, and ended up winning the runoff 51 percent to 49 percent.
“I started with the story of David and Goliath, but not for the reason you might think. In this battle, you are David, firm in your fight for liberty. Goliath is Washington, D.C., intimidating but beatable. I — I am your stone ready to be flung at the foes of liberty,” Kennedy said as his address ended.
Kennedy referred to the biblical story of David and Goliath as his speech opened, a presumed reference to his uphill battle against Romney. In an interesting twist, Romney, who received an enthusiastic reception, also opened his address with a reference to David and Goliath that made a comparison very similar to Kennedy’s.
“Some people I’ve spoken with today have said this is a David versus Goliath race, but they’re wrong. First none of us is David, David is anointed of God,” Romney said during his speech, which came before Kennedy’s. “And second, I’m not Goliath — Washington, D.C. is Goliath. I’m your neighbor, I’m a man of faith, I’m running to serve the people of Utah, and you know me, because I had the opportunity to be part of the team that ran the best Olympics in American history.”
Convention rules require the winner to garner 60 percent of delegate votes to avoid having to run in the June primary. With 12 Senate candidates, Kennedy needed a runoff against Romney to secure his convention victory.
Romney could have bypassed the convention.
But he reasoned that doing so and proceeding straight to the primary would send the wrong message. Romney has labored to make his campaign about serving Utah, and tamp down speculation that he is running for Senate to quench unfilled national ambitions and establish a counterbalance to President Trump in 2020.
“This is not the beginning of my career. My career was in business,” Romney told a group of delegates during a question and answer session before the vote. “I’m not in this race because I have some political career I’m trying to foster. My political career is over. I’m going to Washington because I can make a difference.”
