Tagg Romney, the 42 year old son of former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, said Monday afternoon that he will not run for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, despite encouragement from Republicans in his state.
“The timing is not right for me,” Romney said in an email to The Daily Caller, “but I am hopeful that the people of Massachusetts will select someone of great integrity, vision, and compassion as our next US Senator.”
“I have been humbled by the outreach I received this weekend encouraging me to become a candidate for the US Senate,” Romney continued. “I love my home state and admit it would be an honor to represent the citizens of our great Commonwealth. However, I am currently committed to my business and to spending as much time as I can with my wife and children.”
Republicans are scrambling to find a viable nominee to run in the special election to replace former Democratic Sen. John Kerry, who this week began his tenure as secretary of state.
On Friday, former Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who lost his re-election bid in November to Democrat Elizabeth Warren, announced he would not run for the seat. (RELATED: Brown stays out of Senate race … Sources had said he was preparing to run)
“I think there are a lot of folks who would love to see [Tagg] run,” longtime Massachusetts Republican Ron Kaufman said in an email to TheDC on Monday.
Tagg Romney, who lives in Belmont, Mass., co-founded the venture capital firm Solamere Capital and worked on his dad’s Senate, gubernatorial and presidential campaigns, according to his online biography.