Outgoing Sen. Mitt Romney said Sunday he thinks Vice President-elect J.D. Vance’s name will be at the top of the Republican Party’s presidential ticket in 2028.
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Mr. Romney on “State of the Union” if there will be a post-Trump Republican Party.
“MAGA is the Republican Party and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today,” the Utah Republican said. “And if you were to ask me who the nominee will be in 2028, it’ll be J.D. Vance.”
He called Mr. Vance, who was a Republican senator from Ohio before being tapped as Mr. Trump’s running mate, “smart, well-spoken, part of the MAGA movement.”
When Mr. Tapper asked about Mr. Romney’s previous criticisms of Mr. Vance, the Utah senator said he didn’t want to “rehash” them and that they’ve worked together in the Senate since then.
Mr. Romney said some credit has to go to President-elect Donald Trump for getting the Republican Party to be the party of the “working class, middle-class voter,” which used to be a demographic seen as the Democratic Party’s base.
He said the Democratic Party “pushed” those voters out of the party by focusing on the wrong issues.
However, he did criticize the GOP by saying that some of the party’s policies “do not necessarily line up with the interests of our voters” and that some “reorientation” will be necessary.
But the Democratic Party is the party that is in trouble, he said.
“I don’t know how they recover,” said Mr. Romney, who did not seek reelection and will leave office in January. “And I’m not going to tell them what to do because I wouldn’t begin to have the capacity to do so, but they’ve lost their base.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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