Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney reportedly told a friend in Utah he has decided to run for the Senate in the wake of Sen. Orrin Hatch's retirement announcement.
According to The New York Times, Kem Gardner, a Utah business leader and Romney friend, told Utah Gov. Gary Herbert that Romney will toss his hat into the ring.
Last week, the Times noted, Gardner read Herbert a text message sent to him from Romney that read, "I'm running."
Romney has yet to publically announce his intention to run, but he did change the location on his Twitter bio after Hatch revealed his retirement plans from "Massachusetts" to "Holladay, Utah."
Romney has maintained homes in Utah for several years. He served one term as governor of Massachusetts from 2003-2007 and was later the Republican presidential nominee in the 2012 election.
If the report is true and Romney is going to run for Hatch's Senate seat, it's unclear whether he'll align himself with President Donald Trump or against him. The two have clashed in the past, with Romney calling Trump "a phony, a fraud" during a 2016 speech.
After Trump won the election, however, the two appeared to patch things up — at least somewhat — and Romney was one of Trump's potential picks to serve as secretary of state.
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