Mitt Romney served Massachusetts as a "pretend governor" because he was always more interested in wanting to make it to the White House, former Democratic Rep. Barney Frank said in an explosive interview with
Slate.
"He was a pretend governor and immediately began running for president. Actually, I debated him once when he was running against Kennedy in 1994. He had no real interest in the state," said Frank, who served The Bay State from 1981 to 2013.
The openly-gay Frank also slapped Romney, who served as governor from 2003-2007, for his opposition to same-sex marriage, which was legalized anyway in Massachusetts during Romney's stint as governor.
"He tried to choke off same-sex marriage, so I was pretty much on the other side of him, and he just didn't want to have anything to do with anybody in the congressional delegation," Frank told Slate's Isaac Chotiner.
Romney did get a mild high-five from Frank, however, for his staunch opposition to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
"Having made Sarah Palin the vice presidential nominee, [the GOP] shouldn't be surprised when this kind of belligerent, angry, unintelligent, resentment politics comes forward. I think Mitt Romney woke up to the disaster that Trump is for the Republican Party," he said.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.