Four Republican presidential candidates are slated to attend a closed-door summit in Utah today sponsored by Sen. Mitt Romney and his 2012 presidential running mate, former House speaker Paul Ryan.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are scheduled to attend the event in Park City where they can make their case to a network of “influential” donors, the Washington Post reported.
Romney launched the annual policy forum, known as the E2 Summit, before being elected to the Senate in 2019.
The report said some 250 attendees are expected at the event, organized by Romney’s son Tagg’s company Solamere Capital. They will be looking to find an alternative to GOP primary frontrunner, former President Donald Trump.
“To pretend like Donald Trump isn’t looming over the presidential primary would be foolish — they understand that. But this group is not just going to sit back and say, ‘Okay, well, let’s just accept that Donald Trump’s going to be the nominee,’” Spencer Zwick, Romney’s former finance chair, and co-organizer, said in the Post report. “If people in this room, and at this gathering, start to really get behind one or two of these candidates. You’re going to see some real movement in the polls. … At some point, and hopefully in the not-too-distant future, we can start to coalesce around a smaller group of candidates.”
Axios reports that in addition to hearing from the four candiates, the two-day gathering will address foreign policy, tech, and finance and business.
Additional speakers will include Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, and former Attorney General Bill Barr.
Zwick told Axios that those attending want to find someone else for the Republican 2024 nomination and "don't just accept that Donald Trump is the nominee."
"That's not in their DNA," Zwick told Axios. "They're genuinely interested in a candidate they can get excited about and get behind."
The forum, which is closed to the press, comes at the same time as House Republicans return to Washington to elect a new Speaker of the House after booting Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from the job last week.
Romney and Ryan lost their 2012 bid to unseat incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and then Vice President Joe Biden by losing among Blacks, Hispanics, and younger voters, CNN reported at the time.
Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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