UPDATE: Mitt Romney announced late Wednesday that he will be delaying his announcement about a Utah U.S. Senate bid due to the deadly shooting at a high school in Florida.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Mitt Romney will launch his Utah Senate campaign Thursday morning with a low key announcement on social media, and will make his first public appearance a day later near Salt Lake City with a keynote address to a gathering of grassroots Republicans.

Romney teased his run for Senate in a Feb. 1 tweet, saying that he would have an announcement to make on Feb. 15. On Wednesday, Romney previewed his campaign again in a short Facebook post. Sources in Utah told the Washington Examiner that Romney that will officially jump into the 2018 Senate race with a digital announcement, rather than holding at a staged rally with supporters.

Romney for a couple of weeks has been scheduled to be in Provo on Friday to headline the Utah County Republican Party Lincoln Day dinner. Like most of the state, Utah County is heavily Republican. The region is also among the most populous and politically influential in statewide campaigns.

Romney is a beloved figure in Utah and isn’t expected to face fierce competition in the Senate race, either in the primary or the general election.

But the campaign is garnering national attention because Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, was the GOP’s presidential nominee just a little over five years ago, and has periodically sparred with President Trump. Here is Romney's Facebook message from Wednesday:

"Stay tuned for my announcement on the Utah Senate race this Thursday. Visit [MittRomney.com] to be one of the first to know!"