Mitt Romney credits 2002 Utah Olympics for his political career

SALT LAKE CITY – Mitt Romney is getting back in the game. The former GOP presidential nominee is running for U.S. Senate in Utah, and a number of issues he campaigned on in the 2012 campaign still exist today, including Russia.

“We have to crack down on their interference in our election,” Romney said. “This is unacceptable to us, and if they do that, there should be consequences. Vladimir Putin is not leading a campaign of goodness and light.”

When asked if he worried Putin would interfere in his election in November, Romney said, “I’m told that Russian bots are already putting out material on social media sites attacking me.”

Another long-standing issue is guns and school safety. In the wake of the Florida school shooting, President Trump proposed a federal ban on bump-stocks this week. Romney believes change can come quicker closer to home.

“Young people are thinking about this, talking about this,” he said. “It’s on television. We are going to have to deal with it and take action.”

Romney said the National Rifle Association will not be contributing money to his campaign.

“I’m not taking money from any of the PACs,” he said. “I plan on receiving contributions by individual citizens. If I get attacked by outside PACs, I’ll have to find a way to return fire. But I hope I don’t have to have any campaign PAC supporting my effort.”

When asked what kind of relationship Romney, if elected, would have with President Trump, Romney said, “President Trump and I agree on a whole host of policy issues. There have been occasions when he said something or done something that I found troublesome and I pointed that out.”

One of those occasions was two years ago, in Salt Lake City, when Romney declared candidate Trump “a phony.”

Earlier this week, the President publically endorsed Romney to succeed Sen. Orrin Hatch.

“I think he respects people who speak their mind,” Romney said.

A new Utahpolicy.com poll shows Romney leading Democrat challenger Jenny Wilson 60-14, but Romney expects the race to tighten once his opponents ‘attack ads’ begin, and he vows to work hard for every vote.

“No one wants to see someone just waltz in. They want to see that they are willing to work and listen,” he said.

A few years before the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Games, Romney was called to help ‘save’ the games from scandal and mismanagement. He remembers the day he received his first phone call that the games were in trouble.

“I was at my desk at my office and the call came from my wife. She said Kem Gardner called me and wants you to consider coming back to run the Olympics. I said, ‘That’s ridiculous! Why would I want to do that? And why did he call you?’ She said, ‘He called me because he knew that if he ask you, you would tell him no.’”

Romney eventually took on the challenge and helped turn the games into a monumental success – even turning a profit, which in Olympic history is rare.

Later in 2002, he ran and won the governor’s race in Massachusetts, and in 2012 he won the GOP nomination for president.

Today, he’s running for the U.S. Senate in Utah – the fruits of his decision long ago to help save the 2002 Olympic Games.

“None of that would have happened,” he said, referencing his political opportunities. ”None of it would have happened. My life has taken such a different course than I ever imagined, and the critical moment was the decision to come to Salt Lake City and help host the games and that changed my life and changed it for the better.”