Mitt Romney Says He’d Still ‘Love’ to be President

Mitt Romney may be out of the Senate, but the former Republican presidential nominee is making it clear he has not lost his taste for the political spotlight — or his willingness to needle both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

The 79-year-old former Utah senator and 2012 GOP nominee was asked during an appearance on the Deseret Voices podcast whether he would ever consider another run for the White House in 2028.

His answer was classic Romney: part wistful, part self-deprecating, and part warning shot at Washington’s aging leadership class.

“In reality, sure, I would love to do it again,” Romney said with a laugh. “And this time I might get it right. You know, third time’s a charm. But no, I’m not.”

Then came the sharper line.

“I basically think people who are 80 and above really should not be running the world or running the country,” Romney added.

It was a thinly veiled jab at the two men who have dominated American politics in recent years: President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden. Trump, who returned to the White House in 2025, celebrated his 80th birthday in June. Biden was 82 when he left office.

Romney also pointed to Bill Bryson’s book The Body, which says the human brain shrinks by about 20 percent by the time a person reaches 80 years old.

For Romney, the point was personal as much as political. He left the Senate in 2025 after deciding not to seek a second term, repeatedly saying the country needed younger leaders with more at stake in the nation’s future.

“I spent 25 years in public service in one form or another, and at the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-80s,” Romney said in a 2023 video announcing his retirement. “Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders. They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in.”

Romney’s latest comments come after years of tension with Trump and the MAGA wing of the Republican Party. The former Massachusetts governor became one of Trump’s most prominent Republican critics during his Senate years, serving from 2019 to 2025.

He was the only Republican senator to vote to convict Trump during the president’s first impeachment trial in 2020. He later joined six other GOP senators in voting to convict Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Romney has also been openly critical of Biden. In a 2023 interview with The Washington Post, he said America was likely headed toward a rematch between Trump and Biden, then blasted both men’s leadership styles.

“Biden is unable to lead on important matters and Trump is unwilling to lead on important matters,” Romney said at the time.

Still, many conservatives have long viewed Romney’s anti-Trump posture as a symbol of the old Republican establishment — the polished, cautious, pre-MAGA GOP that grassroots voters largely rejected when Trump remade the party.

Romney has argued the GOP must pay more attention to younger voters, including on issues like climate change. He previously said young people “care about things that the MAGA Republicans don’t care about.”

That kind of comment has only deepened the divide between Romney and the America First base, which sees the former senator as more comfortable criticizing his own party than taking the fight to Democrats.

Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly insisted he remains in excellent shape. In a January Truth Social post, he declared he was in “PERFECT HEALTH” and said he had “ACED” his cognitive exam for a third straight time.

At 78, Trump became the oldest president ever sworn into office when he began his second term in 2025. Biden, who spent much of his presidency fending off questions about his age and fitness, was even older by the time he left the White House.

Romney’s message may not thrill Trump loyalists, but it taps into a growing frustration among voters across the political spectrum: Washington keeps getting older while the country’s problems keep getting more urgent.

And even as Romney admits he would still “love” another shot at the presidency, he says he knows the era of leaders from his generation should be coming to a close.

For a man who once stood at the top of the Republican Party, it was both a confession and a warning: the political old guard may still want the job, but America may be ready to move on.