In , signs of bigger ambitions appeared. Stem cell research was the subject. He had changed long-held views about it, and he went public by calling The New York Times, rather than contacting someone local. In , Romney signed a health reform bill into law. So-called "Romneycare" required Massachusetts residents to either buy a plan or pay a fine.
The law became a source of controversy during the election amid President Barack Obama's attempts to implement the Affordable Care Act, which included a similar individual mandate provision. In , Romney ran for president. Moving from state to national politics, especially from Massachusetts, a liberal state, to presenting himself as a conservative force wasn't easy for Romney.
He was accused of being a "flip-flopper," on issues like abortion and gun control. He lost to John McCain during the Republican primaries. He said he was dropping out in February to unify the Republicans, and to ensure the Iraq war continued. Following McCain's defeat, support for Romney eventually propelled him to the top of the Republican ticket in the presidential race.
Romney was the first Mormon to represent a major party in his run for president in This time around Romney had trouble connecting with voters. Many viewed him as elitist and privileged because of his work in private equity and decades in politics.
During his campaign, he kept pushing to the right, focusing on conservative positions. At one point he said, instead of closing Guantanamo Bay down it should be twice as big. Obama handily won reelection. After the election, Romney kept a low profile. He told The New York Times he expected to be a "loser for life. In , he reemerged in a charity boxing bout with five-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield. As the presidential election approached, rumors swirled that Romney was considering a third run for higher office.
Everything changed when Donald Trump announced his candidacy. During the campaign, Romney slammed Trump, calling him a "phony," "fraud," "con man," and "fake. But Romney dialed back his anti-Trump rhetoric after Trump won the election.
During the presidential transition, Romney had a private dinner with Trump, fueling speculation that he might be appointed to a position as secretary of state. After Sen. Orin Hatch of Utah announced he would retire at the end of his term, rumors indicated that Romney was considering a run for the US senate seat.
He later said he hadn't been interested in the business world, and his wife wanted him to run. She convinced him it wasn't a downgrade from running for president. Republicans lined up to support the GOP hopeful. Though the pair have a checkered past, Trump tweeted his support. In November , Romney won the race to be Utah's senator. Before the took position, there was already an expectation he would be a dissenting voice in the Senate, against Trump. In January , before he was sworn in, he published an opinion piece in the Washington Post.
He wrote that Trump hadn't been his choice for president and that it was "evident that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office. As the year continued, he had a new role in politics, according to The New York Times, "a hybrid role of sober statesman and maverick in a party struggling to reconcile the oft-irreconcilable impulses of its leader. Towards the end of , as Trump's impeachment approached, the pressure rose, and Romney asked himself what his father would do.
In February , Romney showed he wasn't afraid to break ranks with the party. He was one of two Republicans to vote for the Senate to bring in witnesses.
The vote was defeated by his party. He made history later that week when he voted to convict President Donald Trump. He was instantly criticized for his position. But as he told his former strategist Stuart Stevens, "The worst thing that could happen to anyone in politics has already happened to me.
I lost the presidency. Romney is now alone in the Republican Party. It's hard to say how long the effects of his vote will last.
But he's been in politics long enough to know what he was getting into. Loading Something is loading. Email address. Utah senate Midterm Elections Bio Slideshow. Political pundits reckoned she did him more harm than good in that election. There's not much evidence that wives affect voting behaviour — except perhaps Gingrich's, who was a constant reminder of his infidelities and serial marriages.
Ann Romney's emphasis on her year marriage offers a telling contrast, even if many voters worried about such thing are doubtful that the Romneys' Mormon faith is Christian. Mitt has long recognised Ann's political usefulness. She was the first spouse to be included in an official portrait of the governor of Massachusetts. Yet her past contains some potential red flags for more conservative voters. Mitt is having to explain away his support as governor for compulsory health insurance, a requirement he says he vehemently opposed in Obama's reform law.
The president is going to hit him on that, as well as on his previous support for abortion and gun control. Her husband says he will cut off all government funds to the group because among its many services to women it offers abortions. And Ann Romney has also been left to defend a notorious incident during a family holiday long ago, when Mitt strapped their dog to the roof of the car for a hour drive to Canada. She said the animal "loved it". My desire to ride was, and is, so strong that I kept getting healthier and healthier.
I think it's an opportunity for service and an opportunity to see people of all walks of life from across the Commonwealth. And how I measure riches is by the friends I have and the loved ones that I have and the people that I care about in my life. I believe that the country needs the kind of leadership that he is going to be able to offer. And I believe he is the person that can turn around this economy. So I think it's our turn now. But you learn to take a deep breath. Ann Romney: the privileged housewife worth more to Mitt than his millions.
The Republican frontrunner's wife is trying to persuade cash-strapped Americans that she feels their pain. But "they go and discuss it in private. He doesn't ever contradict my mother in public. Her "debut as a political wife was somewhere between a disappointment and a disaster," says Jodi Kantor in The New York Times.
When Mitt was challenging Sen. Ted Kennedy D-Mass. Now, "she seems much better at retail politics than her husband. She uses horseback riding to combat her multiple sclerosis In , after months of mysterious weakness and numbness, Ann was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an often debilitating neurological disorder.
She took steroids to stabilize the disease, but now relies mostly on a combination of alternative treatments, including acupuncture, craniosacral therapy, and her "joy therapy," horseback riding. She has become quite skilled at dressage, a form of horse training and riding involving "seven-figure horses and four-figure saddles," and competes at amateur and even professional-level competitions, winning several medals.
She's so into her hobby-therapy that son Josh Romney got his father a horse mask for Christmas in , with the advice: "Maybe Mom will pay as much attention to you as she does to the horses.
Skip to header Skip to main content Skip to footer Fact Sheet. Here, seven intriguing facts and anecdotes about the woman who could be the next first lady: 1.
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