Sen. Mitt Romney Holds Townhall Event in Lehi

LEHI, Utah – He’s no stranger to the spotlight or politics, but Senator Mitt Romney admits that there’s been a learning curve during his first few months in the U.S. senate.

Senator Romney told the several dozen people attending the Townhall event in Lehi that he remembers thinking “Oh my goodness what have I gotten myself into?” after he heard a fellow senator tell him that he hates every day.

Four months into his term, the former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate has had his hand in several bills.

“We just introduced a piece of legislation on prescription drugs.”

Senator Romney also recently joined the effort to raise the federal legal age to buy tobacco products to 21. But he says the big issues like government spending and border security may just have to wait.

“Those two big items for instance. Those are probably not going to get resolved prior to the 2020 election…There’s not a lot of interest, believe it or not, that I’ve found so far in balancing our budget.”

But there were plenty of other topics on the minds of those in attendance, including the recently released Mueller report on the Russia investigation.

“Anybody else and he would be indicted,” one man said to Senator Romney. “And I don’t know why your ignoring that.”

The Senator issued a sharp rebuke of the actions outlined in the report, calling out President Trump and those that worked in his campaign. It’s a response that earned him the thanks of several people.

“I’m one of those who would like to hear him speak,” Romney said, speaking of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. “I’d like to have him testify.” Many applauded this statement.

For one woman in the small room, the recent school shooting in Colorado was top of mind.

“I really feel like mental health and gun reform are things that really need to be addressed,” Lindon resident Megan Riddle said.

“The best approach for looking at the school shootings is having young people having immediate access and parents having access to report behavior they think is possibly dangerous,” Romney said in part of his response.

“I have mixed reactions to what he said,” Amelia Damarjian said after the event ended. She asked the Senator about his position on climate change and the actions he plans to take.

“If we have no impact on it then there’s nothing we can do to affect it and that would be very bad indeed,” Romney said. “I believe we are contributing significantly to climate change.”

Several others expressed their thanks to Senator Romney for a job well done. “It was pleasure voting for you six years ago,” one man said.

This is Senator Romney’s sixth Townhall event since entering office in January of this year.

Amelia looks forward to seeing what the Senator will bring back to Washington D.C. when the Senate reconvenes on Monday.

“I just hope that when he says that he does value these issues or that he does have integrity and is willing to stand up to even the President…that he will do that,” that she said.