No, I Don’t Regret Voting For Mitt Romney in 2012

On the day of President Trump’s impeachment vote, Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) released a press release saying that he would vote to impeach President Trump. Senator Romney ended up voting “guilty” on Article 1 and “not guilty” on Article 2. Soon after, my social media feeds were full of hate for Mitt Romney. Many called for him to resign, leave the GOP, and others regretting their decision to vote for him in 2012. 

I don’t believe Mitt Romney should resign.

I don’t believe he should leave the GOP.

And, I don’t regret voting for him in 2012. 

2012 was the first presidential election I was old enough to vote in. As a way to get involved in college, I joined College Republicans. I spent months campaigning for Mitt Romney. When he won West Virginia, we were proud of our hard work even though he lost the country. I appreciated Romney’s cool head in such a rough and personal election. I laughed and cried watching the Netflix documentary “Mitt” a year later. 

In 2012, Mitt Romney was the GOP’s pick for their presidential nominee. I supported him the same way I got behind Trump in 2016. Mitt was not the perfect candidate and I don’t believe he ran the best campaign, but I was proud that I had worked as hard as I did in the hopes that my party succeeded. It was better than the alternative, which was four more years of President Barack Obama. At the time, Mitt was what the GOP needed after 2010 when we swept the midterms. I voted for Mitt Romney because I had lost my doctor under Obamacare. In fact, my healthcare premiums and co pays had doubled. 

Though I disagree with Mitt Romney’s vote on impeachment, I don’t think that means he must leave the party. One of the things I dislike most about the Democratic Party is that they are so quick to turn on their own in times of disagreement and how exclusive their party actually is. I have long believed that the Republican Party was the truly inclusive party. We are capable of disagreeing and debating behind closed doors, but we, for the most part, present and maintain a united front in public. 

As Republicans, we are so much better than calling for the resignation of a sitting GOP senator simply because they don’t agree with the President’s actions. 

As Republicans, we are so much better than casting a sitting GOP senator from our party simply because they don’t agree with the President’s actions.

This intense polarization is everything that is wrong with politics in 2020. 

Yes, I am extremely disappointed in Senator Romney for his vote to find President Trump guilty for an alleged crime with little to no evidence, but I don’t regret voting for him in 2012. No, I don’t believe he should leave the Republican party. Though you may not like him, Senator Romney has done a lot for our country and at the end of the day, I appreciate his service.

In the words of Elsa from Frozen, “Let it go.”