Mitt Romney says Trump will win Republican nomination ‘by a landslide’ if he runs in 2024

‘He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party,’ says Utah senator

Utah senator Mitt Romney has predicted that Donald Trump will win the Republican presidential nomination if he decides to run in 2024.

Mr Romney, the Republican nominee for president in 2012, made the comments during a discussion with The New York Times’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at the DealBook DC Policy Project on Tuesday evening.

Mr Trump failed to be re-elected in 3 November’s presidential election and was subsequently impeached by the House after a mob of his supporters breached the US Capitol after attending a rally where he told them to “show strength” and “be strong.”

Five people died and several more were injured during the siege, but a few weeks after leaving office Mr Trump was acquitted of the charge of “incitement of insurrection” by the Senate even though a bipartisan majority – 57 to 43 – voted to convict him. A total of 67 senators was required for conviction.

Despite Mr Trump’s loss in the election and his second House impeachment, Mr Romney told the Times on Tuesday that he is “sure” that the former president will continue being influential in the Republican Party.

“He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party,” the Utah senator said about Mr Trump, adding: “I don’t know about his family members, whether they intend to do that, but I expect he will continue playing a role.”

Mr Romney, who voted to convict Mr Trump in his Senate trial and has been critical of his false claims of widespread fraud in last year’s election, then claimed that the former president would secure the GOP nomination if he decides to run in 2024.

“I’m pretty sure he will win the nomination,” the senator said, adding: “I look at the polls and the polls show that, among the names being floated as potential contenders in 2024, if you put President Trump in there among Republicans he wins in a landslide.”

However, Mr Romney was quick to note that “a lot can happen between now and 2024.”

When asked if he would run for the nomination again and campaign against Mr Trump, the senator said he would prefer to support another candidate.

“I would not be voting for President Trump again. I haven’t voted for him in the past and I would probably be getting behind somebody who I thought more represented the tiny wing of the Republican Party that I represent,” he said on Tuesday.

Since leaving the White House on 20 January, Mr Trump has refused to confirm whether he will run for the nomination in 2024, with rumours floating around that he will form his own party to campaign for president.

However, he has boasted about the “tremendous support,” for him, adding: “I’m the only guy who gets impeached and my numbers go up.”

Mr Trump was likely referring to a Politico-Morning Consult poll released last week that showed 59 per cent of Republican respondents want the former president to continue playing a prominent role in the party and 54 per cent would back him in the primaries in 2024.

Although Mr Trump’s popularity among Republicans dipped following the Capitol insurrection, it shot back up in the wake of his impeachment acquittal.

Former vice-president Mike Pence was second in the poll, with 12 per cent saying they would back him in the primaries, while Donald Trump Jr and former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley were tied for third place with 6 per cent each.

They are all rumoured to be planning on running for the nomination in 2024, but none of them have yet confirmed whether they will campaign to be the next US president.