- Sen. Mitt Romney delivered his final Senate speech Wednesday, vowing to be "voice of unity and virtue."
- A number of his colleagues — Republicans, Democrats and independents — offered speeches to thank and honor him.
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell quoted from a Latter-day Saint hymn in his speech praising Romney.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Sen. Mitt Romney delivered his final Senate speech Wednesday, a group of his colleagues gathered to offer thanks for Romney’s service and friendship.
Senators from both parties requested floor time Wednesday to recognize Romney for his work on bipartisan legislation, his unifying leadership and his character.
Romney, for his part, spent much of his speech crediting his Senate colleagues. “My biggest surprise in the Senate has been how much I enjoy the other senators, on both sides of the aisle,” Romney said.
Sen. Mitch McConnell
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke just before Romney, praising the outgoing senator for a “long and honorable career on the national political stage.”
“On the bingo cards of American politics, the ‘governor of Massachusetts, senator from Utah’ combination isn’t known to be hit very often,” McConnell said. “But Mitt Romney’s repeated success in public office is attested to the transcendent appeal of his character.”
McConnell said Romney possesses “uncompromising honesty, earnest humility and evident devotion to faith and family.” He said Romney’s lone term in the Senate was a fitting “capstone to a life in public service.”
“With the wisdom to discern where to devote his attention, he managed to cram more into six years, and many colleagues fit in 12 or 18,” McConnell said.
McConnell credited Romney for his role in securing major bipartisan victories on infrastructure and for diving into “worthy fights” on issues like American global leadership and competition with China.
“Observers might have wondered what more a distinguished public servant like Mitt Romney had to prove in coming to Washington and putting up with the demands of this (Senate) body,” McConnell said. “But that would be misunderstanding the way our friend has ordered his life. It wasn’t about what he had left to prove, but what he had left to give.”
McConnell said that Romney showed “when you ground yourself in firm beliefs, the winds of politics are easier to weather.” He closed by quoting “a particularly moving hymn from Mitt’s church”: “Do what is right, let the consequence follow; battle for freedom and spirit and might; and with stout heart, look ye forth ‘til tomorrow; God will protect you, then do what is right.”
Sen. Joe Manchin
Sen. Joe Manchin, the Democrat-turned-independent from West Virginia, said he watched Romney’s career “from afar for a long time.” He praised Romney’s business pursuits; his role in steering the 2002 Winter Olympics; and his work as governor of Massachusetts.
When Romney entered the Senate, Manchin said, “he was involved from day one. He hit the ground running.”
Manchin said Romney’s main commitment throughout the bipartisan negotiations on infrastructure was to “move the ball forward,” even if Romney had to compromise on things he wanted included. “That, to me, is the clarity of purpose,” Manchin said. “The clarity of what he came for is to move the ball forward, make it better, try to make a more perfect union.”
Manchin said the country is “much better off” due to Romney’s service in the Senate.
“Most importantly, I’m a better person,” Manchin said. “I know that Gail and I are much more enriched because of your and Ann’s friendship, and we appreciate that more than you know.”
Sen. Susan Collins
Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, praised Romney’s “intelligence, imagination and most of all, his integrity.”
“It’s a day of sadness, because I can’t imagine the Senate without Mitt Romney,” Collins said.
Collins recounted working with Romney as part of the group of 10 senators that delivered bipartisan legislation on infrastructure, gun safety, electoral reform and marriage rights. She noted that Romney drafted the religious liberty provisions in the Respect for Marriage Act.
“He is always focused on getting to ‘yes,’ on using common sense and on achieving a result,” Collins said.
Collins suggested that Romney’s next project should be to oversee a commission on fiscal responsibility.
Sen. Cory Booker
Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, humorously rose to “object” to Romney’s exit, and asked for unanimous consent “to force him to stay in the Senate.”
Romney laughed. “I object to that,” he responded.
Booker noted the many ways in which he and Romney are different. “But the reality is, the more I served with Mitt Romney, the more I found myself hoping to have more in common with him,” Booker said.
Booker said he saw Romney “give a master class in what I believe America needs most. ... I watched time and time again from this seat, a person that put aside the desires for partisan adoration, for a deeper conviction to stand up for our nation. I watched a man not confuse tribal celebrity with leadership significance.”
He pointed to Romney’s 2012 statement that Russia is the U.S.’s greatest geopolitical threat. “At the time, many people made fun of him,” Booker said. A decade later, Booker said, Romney’s “wisdom in perceiving a threat was not only appreciated,” but cheered: Booker said he has sat in classified national security briefings where Romney’s assessment was “applauded.”
But Booker said he does not fully agree with Romney’s assessment. “I think the greatest threat to America is our inability to come together as a country,” Booker said.
Romney, Booker said, is a “great American patriot” for his work in trying to unite the country.
“I’ve sat here for years now, and I’ve watched perhaps someone show with clarity of purpose that I have got to be what his faith and mine called for: Blessed are the peacemakers,” Booker said.
Sen. Thom Tillis
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said he and Romney were “battle buddies” in passing bipartisan legislation. “Quite honestly, without his support, the support of a handful of others, stuff that has enduring, generational value would never happen,” Tilis said.
Tills suggested that his fellow senators “should ask ourselves, over the next two or four years, ‘What would Mitt Romney do?’”
“We’re going to have one less person, in Mitt, here, but I believe it’s in all of us to emulate what Mitt has done,” Tillis said.
Sen. Jon Tester
Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana who recently lost reelection, noted that “we’re losing some good ones this time around, but (Romney is) at the top of the list.”
Tester said that his father was born and raised in Utah and was a lifelong Democrat. “But I’m going to tell you that they would have loved Mitt Romney,” Tester said. “And the reason they would have loved Mitt Romney is because Mitt Romney is a realist, not an idealist; somebody who looks at issues and tries to solve them; tries to get to ‘yes,’ not to get to ‘no,’ without giving up his principles.”
Tester credited Romney for talking “realism” to the bipartisan group of senators who worked on infrastructure and other legislative victories.
Tester, who was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a child but does not consider himself a member, told Romney there is “not a soul” in the U.S. Senate who “doesn’t know you’re a man of faith.”
“I appreciate that, because you exhibit that faith,” he said. “You don’t preach. You walk the walk. ... The United States Senate will be diminished because of your absence.”
Sen.-elect John Curtis
Sen.-elect John Curtis, who will fill Romney’s seat in the U.S. Senate in January, attended Romney’s speech Wednesday. In a statement to the Deseret News, he said he has a “deep respect” for Romney.
“On election night, I spoke about a season of service and I have a deep respect for Senator Romney and for all who have served a season — however brief or long — in public office,” Curtis wrote. “I was pleased to be in the Senate chamber today, along with many of my future colleagues, to hear Senator Romney’s final floor speech. Today was about listening and learning. It has been noted that most speeches in the U.S. Senate are delivered to an empty chamber. Perhaps that is why it isn’t the great deliberative body it once was. I intend to spend more time in the Senate chamber listening to and learning from all of my colleagues beginning in January.”
Sen. Mike Lee
Romney’s colleague from Utah, Sen. Mike Lee, did not attend Romney’s speech Wednesday, but his office sent a written statement to the Deseret News afterward.
“I thank Sen. Romney for his many years of public service,” Lee wrote. “I wish him the very best of success in his future endeavors, and I know that his family will enjoy the opportunity to spend more time with him.”
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, another Democrat-turned-independent, also worked closely with Romney throughout his six years in the Senate. She also chose not to run for reelection so will exit the Senate at the end of the term.
In a statement to the Deseret News, Sinema said, “Mitt Romney is a true statesman who exemplifies integrity, honesty, and humility — qualities that are increasingly rare in today’s politics. It has been an honor to partner with him in delivering meaningful results for our country and our states, and I am especially proud to call him my friend.”
This story has been updated to include a statement from Rep. John Curtis.