DEER VALLEY, UTAH — Mitt Romney is mapping out plans to become a major player in the Senate — positioning himself to be the spokesman of a listless Republican Party establishment that’s been steamrolled by President Donald Trump.

The failed presidential candidate turned Utah Senate hopeful has made it clear to senior party officials that he intends to make a splash with his all-but-certain arrival on Capitol Hill next year, according to nearly a dozen senators, major party donors and confidants who’ve spoken with him.


He’s conveyed a desire to be a loud voice on fiscal issues, railing against the ballooning federal deficit and how Congress approves last-minute spending bills. He’s expressed an interest in joining the foreign affairs committee, saying he wants to speak out on the importance of the country’s role abroad and the threat posed by Russia.

And his top aides have broached the prospect that Romney could tap into the expansive national fundraising network that he established during his 2012 presidential bid to bankroll GOP candidates. Since entering the Senate race, Romney has spoken with Las Vegas casino mogul and megadonor Sheldon Adelson and has quietly encouraged major party givers to open their checkbooks for super PACs devoted to saving the party’s House and Senate majorities.

“He’s not going to be your typical freshman senator,” said Utah GOP Gov. Gary Herbert. “I think people are going to say, ‘Let’s watch Mitt. What’s Mitt going to do?’”

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What he’s going to do when it comes to Trump is perhaps the biggest question on Washington’s mind when it comes to a Sen. Romney.

After warring with the president during the 2016 campaign, Romney has struck a delicate balance lately — offering praise for some of Trump’s policies while bluntly criticizing his bombastic style. But at a time when Trump’s “America First” and populist-driven approach has overtaken the party, Romney’s preliminary planning has led to mounting expectations among allies that he’ll try to be a counterweight to the president — at least occasionally — and to fill a gaping vacuum in mainstream GOP leadership.

The void will grow even wider with the retirements of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), each of whom Romney has been in touch with. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 nominee and the party’s foremost proponent of a hawkish foreign policy, is in declining health.

John Miller, a real estate executive and Romney 2012 finance chair who recently met with the former Massachusetts governor in Salt Lake City, said he is convinced that Romney would strive to cut a McCain-like figure in the Senate.

“I do not see him as being a passive politician,” Miller said.

To some, the idea that Romney, a 71-year-old multimillionaire who appeared to be done with politics following his 2012 defeat, wants to be a senator is hard to fathom. With his onetime nemesis Trump dominating the party, Republicans bracing for losses in the midterm elections and the upper congressional chamber marred by dysfunction, the former governor confronts a seemingly undesirable political landscape.

As he delivered remarks here Thursday night before a group of Republican Party donors gathered for his annual E2 Summit, Romney seemed to acknowledge the grim reality.

“You may wonder why in the world I’m involved in politics again,” he joked darkly.

Yet those close to Romney say his return is in no small part guided by a desire to fill a hole in the mainstream GOP hierarchy that’s been decimated by Trump.

"Mitt is the voice, the face of the Republican Party,” said Scott Keller, a Utah real estate executive who recently hosted a fundraiser for Romney. “I absolutely expect him to fill in for the folks that are leaving."

Among those Romney has spoken with has been the retiring Corker — who, like Romney, has at times found himself in open combat with Trump.

During a recent phone call, Corker and Romney — who Trump briefly considered for secretary of state before ultimately tapping Rex Tillerson — discussed the former governor’s interest in foreign affairs.

“I think he’s going to be a player, personally, in foreign relations,” said Corker, who has spent the past 3 1/2years holding the gavel of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I think he has an interest there, and I think that’s a place where he might make a mark.”

During his Thursday night appearance, Romney did not explicitly address what role he might play in the Senate. But his remarks included an ominous warning on the danger posed by Russia, China and militant jihadists. And he weighed in at length on the deficit.

“How are we going to be competitive globally if we’re paying hundreds of billions, ultimately a trillion, paying off former debts?” Romney asked. “And we don’t seem to be making much progress on that.”

He didn’t mention Trump, but it wasn’t hard to see the contrast. Trump, his critics charge, has presided over budget-busting policies while seeming to cozy up to authoritarian leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Romney is expected to accelerate his Senate planning following the June 26 primary, when he faces off against Mike Kennedy, an underfunded conservative state representative. The general election in the Republican-dominated state is widely seen as an afterthought.

Kennedy, who has cast Romney as a flip-flopper and insufficiently supportive of the president, edged out the former governor at the activist-driven state GOP convention. Yet Kennedy has struggled to gain traction in public polling ahead of the primary, which is expected to attract a broader swath of the Republican electorate.

Since launching his campaign in February, Romney has waged an aggressive effort to lock down the nomination. He has put 12,000 miles on his 2002 Chevy, driving himself to each of the state’s 29 counties. He recently went on the air with a pair of TV commercials, describing himself in one as a “deficit hawk.”

Yet behind the scenes, he is already taking steps to boost fellow Republicans, a role many expect him to replicate in the Senate. He has been offering his support to the Senate Leadership Fund and the Congressional Leadership Fund — super PACs that are closely aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Ryan, Romney’s 2012 running mate.

Ryan and the Congressional Leadership Fund’s executive director, Corry Bliss, huddled with donors on the sidelines of last week’s Romney-hosted summit. On Saturday, Bliss delivered a presentation to the conference outlining what he described as the party’s improving midterm prospects.

“Gov. Romney is committed to making sure Republicans keep control of Congress,” said Bliss. “Not only has he raised several million dollars for Congressional Leadership Fund, but I hear from donors constantly who say he told them that the best way they could help him was by giving to Congressional Leadership Fund so that Republicans can keep control of Congress.”

Some donors have begun floating the prospect that Romney could chair the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a fundraising-centered position. Several people close to Senate GOP leadership, however, say Indiana Sen. Todd Young has emerged as the early favorite for that role.

Once Romney arrives on Capitol Hill, his every move in support of or against Trump is sure to attract outsize attention, something of which the former governor’s top advisers are well aware.

Romney has said that when he disagrees with Trump, he’ll say so — as he will when he agrees with the president.

Trump, meanwhile, has endorsed Romney — but only after waging an unsuccessful effort to persuade longtime Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch to seek reelection, which would have effectively blocked Romney out.

As of late, there have been signs of a thaw between the two men. Speaking before the conference on Thursday evening, Romney — who in 2016 became the de facto leader of the “Never Trump” movement and implored the party to nominate anyone else — said he believed that the president would easily recapture the party’s nomination and then be “solidly reelected” in 2020.

The following morning, when a reporter asked Trump about Romney’s comments, the president responded with a compliment. “Mitt Romney is a straight shooter,” he said.

During a meeting with Trump earlier this year, Herbert recalled, the president asked him about Romney and how he’d fare in the Senate race.

Herbert told the president that Romney would sail into office. And he made the case that Romney and the president could get along. When it came to the issues, Herbert argued to Trump, they weren’t that far apart.

“Mitt used to be my friend,” Herbert recalled the president saying in response. Trump, he said, then added: “I think you’re right, we agree on a lot of stuff.”



CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Mike Kennedy’s first name and title.