Top GOP Senators Back Romney’s Call For One Anti-Trump Candidate to Emerge Quickly to Stop Former President

Several top Republican senators told The Hill this week that they supported Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) strong suggestion that the GOP primary coalesce around one anti-Trump candidate come February.

“I think by then the field’s going to naturally … narrow down. I think a lot of people are going to be out of money well before that date,” Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-SD) told the Hill of Romney’s Feb. 26th date.

“In theory, it would be nice if you could have some control about all that, but it’s hard to tell somebody they have to end their campaign,” Thune added. Romney published an op-ed earlier in the week urging GOP mega-donors and influencers to pressure all but one anti-Trump candidate to drop out. Romney warned of repeating the mistakes from 2016, in which many argue Trump won the primary due to a divided field.

Thune told the Hill’s Alexander Bolton that many of the 2024 GOP candidates “are all folks who are wanting to be the anti-Trump.”

“If they want somebody to be the anti-Trump, then they’re probably going to have get behind somebody, drop out of the race and get behind somebody who actually has a shot,” he concluded.

“I think that’s a pretty practical recommendation,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said of Romney’s suggestion. “I think to have a large field is probably not going to help us win the White House back.”

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who is supporting North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s (R) presidential campaign, said “as a primary voter, personally, I prefer picking somebody who I agree with and can win.”

“At the end of the day, there’s no point endorsing somebody who can’t win. I wish we just move on to something normal and tap into the talent of 340 million Americans and see what else we can come up with,” Cramer concluded, clearly urging the GOP to move on from Trump.

Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairwoman Joni Ernst (R-IA) added, “If we want to win elections, we need to look toward the general election and making sure our candidates are strong and ready to go.”

“If people can start coalescing and getting the right candidate into place, that would be very helpful,” she concluded.

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