Speculation had run rampant that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was on the verge of scoring a major endorsement — Sen. Mitt Romney, R-U.T., had been rumored to be weighing the idea of backing Biden’s bid.
Romney had been the Republican Party presidential nominee in 2012. For him to suddenly jump to the other side of the aisle to spite President Donald Trump, a frequent political rival, would have been unprecedented.
On Monday, Romney denied the rumors and said he wouldn’t endorse anyone for the 2020 presidential election. The Utah senator said he would “stay quiet” about whom he’ll be supporting in November.
Romney told reporters on Capitol Hill that “I’m not going to be describing who I’ll be voting for.”
This is a repeat of the last election. In 2016, Romney said publicly that he would support neither Trump nor Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. He later said that he had cast his vote for his wife, Ann.
Retired Gen. Colin Powell, who served as President George W. Bush’s secretary of state, took a stronger step away from Trump, telling CNN on Sunday that he would support presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden this November. Powell had said he voted for Clinton in 2016.
The rivalry between Trump and Romney has often been fierce.
Romney was the only GOP senator to join Democrats to vote for removing Trump from office after the president’s impeachment trial earlier this year. Trump has derided him as a “fool” and a “failed presidential candidate.”
After the senator attended a march for racial justice on Sunday, declaring that “black lives matter,” Trump tweeted sarcastically about Romney’s “sincerity.”
Romney shot back Monday that Trump has “got time to do whatever he feels is appropriate” and that “I would presume” the president would consider supporting a police reform measure, given his public expressions of concern about the killing of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man, by a white officer in Minneapolis.
It led to speculation that Romney would soon back Biden — but that’s not the case.
The Associated Press contributed to this article