Unlike the rest of our gerontocracy, Mitt Romney retires with dignity
Tiana Lowe Doescher
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Despite suffering two catatonic episodes in public, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is holding on to control of the Republicans’ upper chamber with an iron grip. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) just announced she would run for a 20th term in Congress. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump continue to dominate as their parties’ presumptive presidential nominees. At the end of either of their second terms, the current president and the former president would be 86 and 82, respectively.
Given the pattern, it is notable when a patrician atop the gerontocracy chooses to retire with dignity and long before the inevitable senility of old age sets in. The 76-year-old Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) announced he would not seek a second term in the Senate come 2024.
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Contrary to the assumptions of a perennially incensed corner of the internet, the old-school Republican was actually cruising to a rather easy reelection. While Romney has faced friendly fire for becoming the first senator to vote to convict a president of his or her party during an impeachment trial, he was found to be 17 points ahead of his closest possible challenger for reelection.
The question isn’t why Romney would decide to retire. It’s why would he choose not to.
Romney has a reported net worth of more than a quarter-billion dollars, a Park City ski chalet, a New Hampshire vacation home, a 6,000 square-foot mansion in Utah, a Washington townhome, a still-silver vixen of a wife, five sons, 24 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. If you were a still-able-bodied and spry 76-year-old with all of the above, why on Earth would you choose to squabble with Biden or Trump in the swamp rather than rotate through your multiple properties and dozens of happy family members?
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Washington’s gerontocracy is as anomalous as it is offensive to our common sense of decency. A century ago, the average senator was 56, and the average member of the House was not yet 50. Today, the average senator is older than the retirement age, and the average House member is 58. Further, just 1 in 8 seniors age 75 and older report to Pew that they are not yet retired. Of 100 senators, 16 are at least 75.
While fiscal hawks and pragmatic moderates will surely miss Romney’s pursuit of policy deals rather than Twitter clout, Romney is right to quit while he’s ahead. In demonstrating his dignity, Romney has shown respect for an electorate that deserves better than to be governed by decrepit despots so consumed with their power that they cannot fathom a younger generation can represent themselves any better.