Sen. Mitt Romney said he would vote for a Democrat over former President Trump or businessman Vivek Ramaswamy in a potential 2024 general election matchup.
“I’d be happy to support virtually any one of the Republicans, maybe not Vivek, but the others that are running would be acceptable to me and I’d be happy to vote for them,” Romney said to CBS news host Norah O’Donnell in a clip which resurfaced online Saturday.
“I’d be happy to vote for a number of the Democrats too. I mean, it would be an upgrade from, in my opinion, from Donald Trump and perhaps also from Joe Biden,” Romney added, without specifying which Democrats he had in mind.
The remarks were originally aired a month ago as part of a lengthy discussion between Romney and O’Donnell on a new book about the senator.
“Look, I like President Biden. You know, I find him a very charming, engaging person. There’s some places I agree with him, but most places I disagree with him. I think he’s made all sorts of terrible mistakes, but I would like to see someone else run,” Romney said.
Though Romney is a GOP senator from Utah and the party’s former 2012 nominee for president, he has fallen out with much of the Republican base — and complained to O’Donnell about how “populist” the party had become.
The clip immediately began circulating among pro-Trump die-hards on X, who insisted Trump and Ramaswamy should embrace the criticism.
“Not surprising,” snapped Ramasweamy in a posting he later pinned to the top of his X profile.
Conservative commentator Monica Crowley blasted the senator on X as a “uniparty loser” and noted he is the uncle of Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel — who has also faced heat from the base over the party’s poor performance in several election cycles under her leadership.