Will Kamala Harris select Mitt Romney as her secretary of state?

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Hello, friends. 25 days until Election Day.
Mitt Romney, Secretary of State?
For weeks now, Vice President Kamala Harris has repeated her promise to name a Republican to her cabinet, if elected. It’s not a novel idea — every president from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Barack Obama included a member of the opposite party in their cabinet. Trump nixed the tradition; Biden chose not to resurrect it. On “The View” this week, Harris offered her willingness to return to that tradition as her best example of what differentiates her from Biden.
The question, then, is who Harris would pick. Liz Cheney? Maybe, Harris acknowledged (which made JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, fume). Adam Kinzinger? He is on board. Jeff Flake? He endorsed Harris for president last week.
What about Mitt Romney?
That’s the case Jonathan Martin, Politico’s senior political columnist, made Thursday. Not only should Harris choose Romney for her cabinet, Martin wrote, but she should do it now. And not just any cabinet role: she should preemptively name Romney her secretary of state.
“So go to Salt Lake City and stand in Temple Square — perhaps in front of Brigham Young’s Lion House — and tell the young-for-77 Romney that he has one last mission to serve the country he loves,” Martin wrote. “Play to his sense of patriotism and invoke yours by reminding voters of how Trump runs down America.”
Perhaps using Temple Square as a political prop isn’t the best of ideas. But offering the call to Romney, before November’s election, is an interesting one.
Romney exits the Senate at the end of the year, and he has been coy about his post-retirement plans. He told his biographer, McKay Coppins, he’s considering a campus lecture tour or some sort of electoral reform work, but was light on details. During a Sutherland Institute event at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics this week, Romney hinted he intends to stay active in partisan politics, saying he wouldn’t endorse Harris because he wishes “to continue to have a voice in the Republican Party” post-election: “There’s a good shot,” he said, “that the Republican Party is going to need to be rebuilt and reoriented, either after this election, or if Donald Trump is reelected, after he’s the president.” Romney, it is implied, intends to play some role in that.
That unwillingness to endorse the Democratic nominee has been the hitch before. Earlier, when rumors swirled about a potential ambassadorship for Romney during a second Biden term, Romney was hesitant, assuming that such a post would be conditional on an endorsement. “Biden’s policies drive me crazy,” Romney told Coppins. “And one of the reasons I think there are people like me who shrink at the idea of endorsing Biden is, does that mean I endorse his border policies? Or do I endorse giving trillions of dollars to college students to pay their debt?”
Martin’s solution? A position in the Harris cabinet should be offered, even if Romney doesn’t endorse. “Don’t even do it in exchange for his support,” Martin wrote. “It would be more powerful if (Harris) says she’ll name him to the post without the perception of a Trumpian quid pro quo.”
In September, Business Insider’s Bryan Metzger asked Romney about Harris’ pledge. “I don’t think that’s a matter that will have much impact on how people vote, but I think it would be a positive step to show balance and to bring people in based upon their capabilities, rather than just their party,” Romney said.
Would Romney consider a position? “I’ve got a long list of people she can consider,” he said. “I’m not one of them.”
Trump, too, had a lengthy list in 2016, and Romney chose to hear him out. Even after Romney publicly and repeatedly denounced Trump’s 2016 candidacy for president, Romney met with him twice to discuss a potential post as secretary of state. Several individuals who formerly held the position — including Hillary Clinton — encouraged Romney to accept the post if offered. George W. Bush, who didn’t vote for Trump, told Romney, “If he actually asks you to be secretary of state, I’ll have to rethink what I think about the guy,” per “Romney: A Reckoning.”
Romney told Coppins he felt drawn to the position by the “really troubling times” in the world, with the rise of China and Russia as geopolitical threats. He also admitted another motive: “I like being involved and being in the middle of things, and having something important to do,” Romney said. “It’s like, you know, I wanted to be president. If you can’t be president, being secretary of state’s not a bad spot to come thereafter.”
The decision could be beneficial for Harris in another way: it could help her with Latter-day Saint voters in Arizona and Nevada, two crucial battleground states. Both campaigns have rolled out formal outreach efforts to target those voters — most of whom are registered Republicans, but some of whom are reluctant to back Trump. Romney, at present, is the only Latter-day Saint member of the U.S. House or Senate who has not publicly endorsed Trump. Per Martin’s suggestion, he wouldn’t have to endorse Harris — he would just have to agree to keep serving the country if she wins.
In Arizona, independent voters rule. That’s according to a new analysis of voter registration trends over the past four years, which finds that the share of Republican voters is growing, and the share of Democrats is shrinking — all while the number of unaffiliated voters is exploding. “The math is the math, and for Democrats statewide to be successful, there has to be a larger portion of independents voting for Democrats to cover that loss,” one strategist said. Here’s how voter registration trends could sway the 2024 election in Arizona (Stephanie Murray and Caitlin McGlade, The Arizona Republic)
Outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg saw the alliance through both expansion and international instability. His parting thoughts are telling — including a belief that arming Ukraine more fully after Russia’s 2014 Crimean annexation would have prevented the current war, and his careful words on Trump: “What I will say is that whoever is elected as the president of the United States in November, it’s important for European allies to engage with the United States to ensure that they continue to support Ukraine, because it is in the security interest of all of us that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent nation in Europe.” Could Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Been Prevented? NATO’s Outgoing Chief Thinks So. (Stuart Lau, Politico)
Biden’s central message to voters was that democracy was on the ballot, and he — not Trump — could save it. Harris has not abandoned that message, but it does not have a prominent place in her pitch to voters. That’s according to this analysis of her ad buys, which offers a telling look into what the Harris campaign thinks the remaining persuadable voters really care about. Harris Has Skewered Trump’s Election Denialism—Just Not on the Airwaves (Sam Stein and Marc Caputo, The Bulwark)
See you on the trail.
Editor’s note: The Deseret News is committed to covering issues of substance in the 2024 presidential race from its unique perspective and editorial values. Our team of political reporters will bring you in-depth coverage of the most relevant news and information to help you make an informed decision. Find our complete coverage of the election here.