Former Romney adviser says it's "highly likely" he'll run for Senate
A former adviser to Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential campaign told "CBS This Morning" on Monday that it was "highly likely" the former Massachusetts governor would be running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. "I can not confirm it, but I think it is highly likely he's going to move forward," Dan Senor, a former adviser to House Speaker Paul Ryan and former senior adviser to Romney.
Senor said that he had spoken to Romney but noted, "I am not a spokesman for him, I'm just a friend."
Senor's comments come after the New York Times reported that a close Romney friend confirmed with the governor via text message that he was indeed running for Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch's senate seat.
Hatch announced he would not be seeking re-election after 42 years in Washington and several GOP sources have since told CBS News that Romney has been quietly preparing for Hatch's retirement, CBS News' Nancy Cordes reports.
Romney has not said anything publicly about his plans to run, but following Sen. Hatch's announcement, he changed his home base on his Twitter profile from "Massachusetts" to "Holladay, UT."
Days later, according to Politico, President Trump had phoned Romney for a conversation that lasted less than 10 minutes amid persistent rumors of Romney's run.
But the pair's relationship has been a rocky one. In August, Romney urged the president to apologize for his response to the deadly Charlottesville protests in which he proclaimed "there's blame on both sides."
Senor also confirmed to CBS that Romney was in "good health" after news he had undergone surgery for prostate cancer over the summer.
A Romney aide confirmed to CBS News earlier this month that "last year, Governor Mitt Romney was diagnosed with slow-growing prostate cancer. The cancer was removed surgically and found not to have spread beyond the prostate."
Romney, 70, served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007.