302 Shares Reddit 255 Email

Mitt Romney came in second place at the Utah Republican Party Convention, losing to State Representative Mike Kennedy.

After the eight hour convention, where at times the sparring turned nasty over the rules and procedures of the convention, Utah Representative Mike Kennedy was named the winner over Mitt “Massachusetts Carpetbagger” Romney 51 percent to 49 percent respectively.

Who is Mike Kennedy?

United States Senate candidate Mike Kennedy brings to the Senate race a background as a medical doctor, practicing family medicine in Utah. He attended Michigan State University to obtain his degree in medicine and returned to Utah with his family to attend part-time at Brigham Young University to get his law school degree.

In 2012, Mike Kennedy was elected to serve in the Utah House of Representatives as Mitt Romney was being handily defeated by President Barack Obama nationally. Mike Kennedy has been serving continuously in the Utah legislature for the last six years and has been one of the more conservative representatives in that body.

Mike Kennedy’s platform that got him his house seat in 2012 was centered on strong opposition to tax increases, strong support for US citizen’s second amendment rights, and federalism.

Romney raised taxes in Massachusetts but called them “fees,” has flipped flopped to even more liberal positions on government size and scope from his earlier runs, and hates the second amendment. In light of the recent second amendment right bans being pushed by Democrats and some Republicans nationwide, Mitt Romney’s statements on guns should be brought back into the spotlight:

But the GOP nominee said he will take stands that put him at odds with some traditional ultra-conservative groups, and cited his support for the assault rifle ban and the Brady gun control law. “That’s not going to make me the hero of the NRA (National Rifle Association),” he said. “I don’t line up with a lot of special interest groups.”

Kennedy, being a medical doctor, has some very strong feelings about government-run health care that Mitt Romney introduced in Massachusetts saying, “Government should not be in the health care business. The free market approach is preferable to leaving decisions to bureaucrats. More freedom to choose and to innovate will keep our health care the best in the world. As a physician, I will use my experience and training to push back against Obamacare. The states should be allowed to develop their own market-based answers to our health care challenges. ”

This is in direct contrast to the establishment Republican-backed choice Romney, who loves Obamacare and government-run health care:

“Without Tom pushing it, I don’t think we would have had Romneycare,” Romney said. “Without Romneycare, I don’t think we would have Obamacare. So, without Tom a lot of people wouldn’t have health insurance.”

Kennedy is currently serving as vice chair of the Health and Human Services committee in the Utah House of Representatives.

Mike Kennedy was able to gain enough notoriety to get “on the radar” of the extremely liberal publication Wonkette who wrote a piece lambasting his comments on hospitals killing patients.

Mitt Romney made headlines today declining to support President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, saying to near constant Fake News CNN that “I’m not a cheap date,” and adding that he will “make that decision down the road.”

Since neither candidate won 60% of the votes at the convention, they move on to the primary in June. The filing deadline was March 15th of this year, so no new candidates may join in the race at this time.

Larry Meyers, the other notable challenger in the race against Romney, went the convention route only and thus was eliminated tonight as a contender. The primary will be between Romney and Kennedy.

The primary election takes place on June 26, 2018.