by Peter Mertz
DENVER, the United States, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- With the announcement this week that U.S. longest-serving Senate Republican Orrin Hatch will retire soon, political pundits weigh in on a major shift in the country's political landscape.
Utah, a large western state with a small population, is traditionally conservative with a history of producing famous national politicians including Hatch, who has been serving in the Senate for 41 years.
Hatch's announcement on Tuesday was no surprise, but when he named his successor, highly-regarded, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney - the profound differences between the two men took center stage.
"Romney had the character to stand up to (President Donald) Trump and denounce him as unfit to serve in the office of the presidency," policy analyst David Richardson told Xinhua Friday.
"Events have borne out his warnings, so he has a lot of credibility with voters," said Richardson, a Seattle lawyer who previously worked in the U.S. Congress.p Utah's politicians have been open, vocal critics of the president - except for Hatch - and political moderates from coast to coast hailed the political shift in Utah as indicative of future political cooperation.
"Romney will help bring the GOP back to the center where it belongs," said Republican strategist Al Rickard in Washington, D.C.
"Romney is younger and much more open to the outside world - not parochial like Hatch - and strong enough to stand his own ground rather than blowing like a weather vane in the political winds - as Hatch has done for his career," Richardson said.
The announcement is seen as a direct blow to Trump, who had asked retiring Hatch, 83, to stay on to block Romney's ascension.
"Trump hates Romney and he begged Hatch to stay on," said Colorado businessman Glenn Nemhauser. "This is definitely a shift in American conservative politics and bad news for the president."
Romney, 70, a former governor of Massachusetts, was his party's nominee against Democrat Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, losing by 51-47 percent of the vote.
"If Trump were ever impeached and stood trial in the Senate to be removed from office, Romney, given his unabashed criticisms of Trump's character, could not be counted on as a vote to retain Trump in office," Richardson said.
Hatch was a key player in Trump's decision to slash the size of Utah's Bears Ears National Monument protections by 80 percent last month - even handing the president a pen at the White House to sign the legislation.
That act inspired the wrath of a number of groups across America, including Native Americans, environmentalists, and even giant corporate businesses, who filed immediate lawsuits and are actively fighting the reversal of Obama era policies.
"Romney may think twice before giving up sacred Native American land for oil and gas exploration," Nemhauser told Xinhua.
"Trump's oil and gas drilling friends are already lining up to puncture a hole in the earth and destroy this beautiful, pristine area," said Loni Keppa of the Native American Sioux tribe.
"We hope and pray that Romney will be more moderate," Keppa told Xinhua, "toward preserving land sacred to Native American groups for thousands of years."
During most of his career, Hatch was seen as a traditional conservative who hammered out bipartisan compromises.
"None of that sort of detente today," Nemhauser said. "The Republican Party has shifted to the right and Hatch went along for the ride. Romney can't possibly be worse."
