Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) acknowledged on Wednesday that he privately pitched Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on the idea of starting a new political party ahead of the 2024 election.

Romney, 76, made the comments while speaking to reporters in his office a few hours after announcing his surprise decision not to seek a second term in the Senate next year. The Utah senator was asked by the Washington Examiner about his admission in a wide-ranging interview released Wednesday that he had approached Manchin in April after discussing the idea hypothetically for months.

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“Oh, that was several months ago. Who knows what might happen?” Romney said. “I think Sen. Manchin is looking more closely at No Labels at this stage. I can’t speak for him, but Joe and I speak a good deal and I raise ideas with him. I actually think a third-party candidate would make it more likely that it’s just a spoiler and it would not be successful in electing someone.”

Romney said when announcing that he wouldn’t seek reelection that the decision was heavily influenced by his age and his prediction that his second term in the Senate would be less effective than his first. He also called for a “new generation of leaders” to take the helm.

AP

“I have spent my last 25 years in public service of one kind or another. At the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-80s,” Romney said. “Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders. They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in.”

The 2012 GOP presidential candidate also used his statement to take aim at President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the two frontrunners for their respective party’s nominations in next year’s presidential election. Romney said both men are unable or unwilling to address the nation’s leading problems.

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Romney, a prominent foe of the former president, had repeatedly expressed confidence that he would win if he ran again, and polls don’t necessarily dispute his assertion. He has dominated surveys of 2024 Utah voters, both in the primary and general elections. The GOP primary in Utah is not until next June, leaving Republicans more than enough time to find a replacement.

For his part, Manchin, a centrist Democrat representing the now heavily Republican state, has yet to decide if he’ll run for a third full term in 2024 and maintains that he is still unsure what he’ll do. He has also fiercely defended plans from the centrist group No Labels to create a third-party presidential ticket amid speculation that he could be their nominee.