Mitt Romney

====First impeachment of Donald Trump (2019–2020)====
[[File:FULL REMARKS -- Senator Mitt Romney to vote to convict President Trump on Abuse of Power.webm|thumb|left|219x219px|"Full Remarks – Senator Mitt Romney to vote to convict President Trump on Abuse of Power" – video from C-SPAN]]

On February 5, 2020, after Romney read a prepared text on the Senate floor decrying "corrupting an election to keep oneself in office" as "perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine",<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-his-vote-to-convict-trump-on-abuse-of-power-romney-will-break-with-his-party--and-awaits-the-consequences/2020/02/05/a76dce74-4841-11ea-ab15-b5df3261b710_story.html|title=Romney to vote to convict Trump on impeachment charge of abuse of power, becoming the first Republican to break ranks|last=Balz|first=Dan|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=February 5, 2020|access-date=February 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/02/romney-impeach-trump/606127/|title=How Mitt Romney Decided Trump Is Guilty|last=Coppins|first=McKay|author-link=McKay Coppins|website=[[The Atlantic]]|date=February 5, 2020|access-date=February 5, 2020}}</ref> he broke ranks with the Republican majority as the sole Republican senator to vote to convict Trump in his [[First impeachment trial of Donald Trump|first impeachment trial]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/us/politics/impeachment-vote.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205161013/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/us/politics/impeachment-vote.html |archive-date=February 5, 2020 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Trump Impeachment Trial |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 5, 2020}}</ref> thereby becoming, according to press reports, the first U.S. senator in [[United States history]] to vote to convict a president of the same political party.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/us/politics/trump-acquitted-impeachment.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205214033/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/us/politics/trump-acquitted-impeachment.html |archive-date=February 5, 2020 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title = Trump Acquitted of Two Impeachment Charges in Near Party-Line Vote|newspaper = The New York Times|date = February 5, 2020|last1 = Fandos|first1 = Nicholas}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-expected-to-vote-to-acquit-trump-on-impeachment-11580908525 |title = Senate Acquits Trump on Both Impeachment Articles|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|first1=Rebecca|first2=Natalie|last1=Ballhaus|last2=Andrews|date=February 5, 2020|access-date=September 4, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/05/senate-impeachment-trial-mitt-romney-votes-remove-president-trump/4669734002/|title='Appalling abuse': Sen. Mitt Romney votes to convict President Trump on abuse of power charge|first1=Ledyard|first2=Maureen|first3=Nicholas|last1=King|last2=Groppe|last3=Wu|website=[[USA Today]]}}</ref>

Fallout from the vote included Romney's being formally censured by various Republican organizations outside of Utah; in comparison, anger against Romney among Republicans within Utah was more muted, and his impeachment vote, according to opinion polling, was supported by Utah Democrats.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Romboy|first=Dennis|date=February 11, 2020|title=New poll shows most Utahns pleased with Mitt Romney's vote, but 60% of GOP has negative reaction|url=https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/2/11/21133232/mitt-romney-donald-trump-mitt-impeachment-split-deseret-news-hinckley-poll-convict-divided|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=[[Deseret News]]|language=en}}</ref> Jason Perry, director of the [[University of Utah]]'s [[Hinckley Institute of Politics]], said, "Democrats in Utah were more excited about Mitt Romney's vote than [Utah] Republicans were disappointed."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Can a Republican take on Trump and survive? Mitt Romney is proving it's possible.|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/can-a-republican-take-on-trump-and-survive-mitt-romney-is-proving-it-s-possible/ar-BB105SAq|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=www.msn.com}}</ref> [[Republicans for the Rule of Law]] ran various ads thanking Romney.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Johnson|first=Martin|date=February 7, 2020|title=New ad campaign by GOP group: Thank you, Romney|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/481997-new-campaign-by-gop-group-thank-you-sen-romney/|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article240206057.html|title='We stand with Mitt.' Crowdfunded Utah billboard backs Romney's Trump impeachment vote|author=Gilmour, Jared|website=McClatchyDC|date=February 11, 2020|access-date=September 4, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Forgie|first=Adam|date=February 11, 2020|title='We Stand with Mitt': Student Republicans of Utah crowdfund billboard|url=https://kutv.com/news/local/we-stand-with-mitt-student-republicans-of-utah-crowdfund-billboard|access-date=June 4, 2020|website=KUTV}}</ref>