Mitt Romney

Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Romney is a son of George W. Romney, a former governor of Michigan, and a member of the prominent Romney family. Born in Detroit and raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Mitt spent over two years in France as a Mormon missionary. He married Ann Davies in 1969, and has five sons with her. Active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) throughout his adult life, Romney served as bishop of his ward and later as a stake president for an area covering Boston and many of its suburbs. By 1971, he had participated in the political campaigns of both his parents. In 1971, Romney graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Brigham Young University (BYU) and in 1975 he completed a JD–MBA program from Harvard. He became a management consultant and in 1977 joined Bain & Company in Boston. As Bain's chief executive officer (CEO), he helped lead the company out of a financial crisis. In 1984, he co-founded and led the spin-off company Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm that became one of the largest of its kind in the nation. After stepping down from his positions at Bain Capital and in the LDS Church, Romney ran as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts in 1994 and lost to the incumbent, Ted Kennedy. He then resumed his position at Bain Capital. Years later, a successful stint as president and CEO of the then-struggling Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics led to a relaunch of his political career. Elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002, Romney helped develop and later signed a health care reform law (commonly called "Romneycare") that provided near-universal health insurance access through state-level subsidies and individual mandates to purchase insurance. He also presided over the elimination of a projected $1.2–1.5 billion deficit through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and closing corporate tax loopholes. Romney did not seek reelection in 2006, instead focusing on his campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2008 presidential election, which he lost to Senator John McCain. Romney ran for president again four years later and was the Republican nominee in the 2012 presidential election, becoming the first LDS Church member to be a major party's nominee. He lost the election to President Barack Obama. After reestablishing residency in Utah, Romney ran for U.S. Senate in 2018. When Romney won the Republican nomination and general election, he became the first person in modern American history to be elected governor and U.S. senator of different states. Generally considered a moderate or neoconservative Republican, Romney was the lone Republican to vote to convict Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial, making him the first senator ever to have voted to remove a president of the same party from office. Romney also voted to convict in Trump's second trial in 2021. He marched alongside Black Lives Matter protestors, voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, supported gun control measures, and did not vote for Trump in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections. He has long been hawkish on relations with Iran, China, and Russia, and was one of Israel's staunchest supporters in Congress. In 2023, Romney announced he would not run for reelection in 2024 and retired from the Senate when his term expired in 2025.

Infobox

Preceded by

James L. Easton

Succeeded by

Valentino Castellani

Lieutenant

Kerry Healey

President

Juan Antonio SamaranchJacques Rogge

Born

Willard Mitt Romney (1947-03-12) March 12, 1947 (age 78)Detroit, Michigan, U.S.

Political party

Republican (since 1993)Independent (before 1993)

Spouse

mw- Ann Davies (m. 1969)

Children

5, including Tagg

Parents

mw- George W. RomneyLenore LaFount Romney

Relatives

Romney family

Education

Stanford University (attended)Brigham Young University (BA)Harvard University (JD, MBA)

Party

Republican (since 1993)Independent (before 1993)

Tables

Massachusetts United States Senate Republican primary, 1994[544] · Electoral history › U.S. senator from Massachusetts

Total votes

Party

Total votes

Party

229,496

Candidate

100%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mitt Romney	188,280	82.0%
	Republican	John Lakian	40,898	17.8%
	Write-in		318	0.1%
Total votes			229,496	100%

United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1994[545] · Electoral history › U.S. senator from Massachusetts

Total votes

Party

Total votes

Party

2,179,964

Candidate

100%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	1,266,011	58.1%	–6.9%
	Republican	Mitt Romney	894,005	41.0%	+7.1%
	Libertarian	Lauraleigh Dozier	14,484	0.7%	+0.2%
	LaRouche Was Right	William A. Ferguson Jr.	4,776	0.2%	+0.2%
	Write-in		688	nil	N/A
Total votes			2,179,964	100%
	Democratic hold

Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2002 · Electoral history › Governor of Massachusetts

Total votes

Party

Total votes

Party

2,194,179

Candidate

100%

Votes

+4.0%

Turnout

Party

Turnout

Party

2,220,301

Majority

Party

Majority

Party

106,007

Candidate

4.8%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Mitt Romney (Kerry Healey)	1,091,988	49.8%	–1.0%
	Democratic	Shannon O'Brien (Chris Gabrieli)	985,981	44.9%	–2.4%
	Green-Rainbow	Jill Stein (Tony Lorenzen)	76,530	3.5%	+3.5%
	Libertarian	Carla Howell (Rich Aucoin)	23,044	1.1%	–0.6%
	Independent	Barbara C. Johnson (Joe Schebel)	15,335	0.7%	+0.7%
	Write-in		1,301	0.1%	–0.1%
Total votes			2,194,179	100%	+4.0%
		Blank	6,122
Turnout			2,220,301
Majority			106,007	4.8%
	Republican hold		Swing	+1.4%

2012 United States presidential election · Electoral history › 2012 Republican nominee for President of the United States

Total votes

Party

Total votes

Party

129,085,410

Candidate

100%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Barack Obama / Joe Biden (inc.)	65,915,795	51.1%
	Republican	Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan	60,933,504	47.2%
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson / Jim Gray	1,275,971	1.0%
	Green	Jill Stein / Cheri Honkala	469,627	0.4%
	Constitution	Virgil Goode / James Clymer	122,389	0.1%
	Peace and Freedom	Roseanne Barr / Cindy Sheehan	67,326	0.1%
	Justice	Rocky Anderson / Luis J. Rodriguez	43,018	nil
	American Independent	Tom Hoefling / J.D. Ellis	40,628	nil
	Reform	Andre Barnett / Kenneth Cross	956	nil
	N/A	Other	216,196	0.2%
Total votes			129,085,410	100%
	Democratic hold

· Electoral history › U.S. Senator from Utah

Candidate