Mitt Romney, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, to run for Senate in Utah

One Arizona senator was happy.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, will run for Senate in Utah, he said Friday. 

Romney announced his campaign in a video message. Already fighting criticism that he is an outsider, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee mentioned Utah early and often in the clip. 

"I have decided to run for United States Senate because I believe I can help bring Utah's values and Utah's lessons to Washington," he said. "Utah is a better model for Washington than Washington is for Utah."

Romney will aim to replace 83-year-old Sen. Orrin Hatch in November's election. The longtime senator announced his retirement in January even as Trump pushed him to run again. 

Romney, 70, has a a strong chance to win the seat later this year. While not a consistent Utah resident in years past, he has strong name recognition and is considered popular in the state. Romney is a Mormon who helped to reorganize the scandal-plagued 2002 Olympics Games in Salt Lake City — an effort he highlighted in his announcement.

Romney's run has already faced some resistance: the head of the state's Republican Party criticized him for not having deep enough ties to the state. Jenny Wilson, a Democratic candidate running for Senate in Utah, said this week that "Utah families deserve another Utahn as their senator, not a Massachusetts governor who thinks of our state as his vacation home." 

If elected, the former governor would bring strong name recognition and influence as a first-term senator. While former aides expect Romney to push for conservative policies in the Senate, they also believe he will rebuke the president when necessary and potentially clash with him on some policies. 

Romney likely would have backed the Republican tax law passed in December. But he may break with Trump on topics such as relations with Russia and immigration. 

In his announcement Friday, the former governor took a swipe at immigration hardliners in the White House and Congress. 

"Utah welcomes legal immigrants from around the world. Washington sends immigrants a message of exclusion," he said. 

In the video, Romney also criticized the level of national debt and the lack of civility in Washington. He promoted an export-driven economy. 

Romney heavily criticized then-candidate Trump in a 2016 speech, calling him a "phony" and a "fraud." He warned that Trump would cause economic instability and endanger Americans abroad. 

Later, Romney unsuccessfully interviewed to be Trump's secretary of State. Since, he has publicly rebuked Trump when he supported Roy Moore, the Alabama Senate candidate accused of sexually abusing teenagers, and when the president reportedly questioned why the U.S. needed immigrants from "s---hole" African countries. 

If he wins the seat and criticizes Trump while in office, he would mark a stark shift from Hatch. Hatch has heaped praise on the president in recent months, calling him a "heck of a leader" after the GOP passed its tax plan in December. Trump reportedly begged the 83-year old Hatch to run for re-election one more time.

Before entering politics, Romney led investment firm Bain Capital, a spin-off of Bain & Company. After his role in the Utah Olympics, he served as Massachusetts governor from 2003 to 2007. 

There, he oversaw the creation of a health insurance program that some consider a precursor to the Affordable Care Act. As a presidential candidate in 2012, he pledged to repeal Obamacare and pushed for marketplaces created by states. 

Romney unsuccessfully ran for president in 2008 before winning the GOP nomination in 2012, when he lost in the general election to incumbent President Barack Obama.

Mitt Romney, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, to run for Senate in Utah

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US to overtake Saudi Arabia, Russia to become top oil producer in 2019

The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia next year to become the world’s largest oil producer.

Surging output from its shale fields boosted output by 846,000 barrels per day in just the three months to November last year. 

The country is on course to jump from third largest producer to global leader.

Making the prediction in a report on Tuesday, the International Energy Agency added: ‘All the indicators that suggest continued fast growth in the US are in perfect alignment.’

US producers have revolutionized their industry over the past decade, plundering shale rock and speeding up drilling techniques to become less dependent on foreign imports.

The IEA warned the increase in output would ramp up pressure on industry cartel Opec – of which the US is not a member. 

Recent predictions suggest US output will grow by 8m barrels per day by 2025, the strongest growth in the history of crude markets.

US to overtake Saudi Arabia, Russia to become top oil producer in 2019

Trump's election partly responsible for legendary gunmaker's demise: Experts

The "experts" say...what experts?

I swear to Christ whatever goes wrong it's Trump fault! Only this time he's 'partly responsible'.

What a bullshit story and of course it's from ABC. They devout one small paragraph to the REAL reason they're filing bankruptcy. A faulty trigger mechanism on Remington bolt-action rifles causes the gun to fire without pulling the trigger which resulted in a few deaths and injuries prompting a class action lawsuit costing millions. Take that away and they would not be filing for bankruptcy.

Trump had about as much responsibility for the downturn at Remington as he did for the BP oil spill. Email the CEO and ask him about the woes at Remington. I guarantee you he won't blame Trump.  

BTW... Sandy Hook in the article blow? 

The gun is responsible? Not the lunatic's mother who gave him access to guns? So if they ever find OJ's knife should the Brown and Goldman families file a lawsuit against the knife manufacturer? 

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Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesBolt action rifles sit on display in the Remington Arms Co. LLC booth on the exhibition floor of the 144th National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings and Exhibits at the Music City Center in Nashville, April 11, 2015. 

For more than 200 years, Remington has been one of America's best-known gunmakers, a wild west throwback whose durable products have been favored by sportsmen as well as the military.

But on Monday, the North Carolina-based company announced it intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to massive debt.

"We will emerge from this process with a deleveraged balance sheet and ample liquidity, positioning Remington to compete more aggressively and to seize future growth opportunities," Anthony Acitelli, Remington's chief executive officer, said in a statement, adding that the "fundamentals of our core business remain strong."

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesThe Remington Arms Co. LLC booth stands on the exhibition floor of the 144th National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings and Exhibits at the Music City Center in Nashville, April 11, 2015. 

Experts say the changing winds in Washington, specifically the election of President Donald Trump, has dramatically reduced the demand of guns and have hurt the bottom line of manufacturers like the Remington Outdoor Company.

Robert Spitzer, chairman of the political science department at the State University of New York at Cortland, said gun sales spiked during the 2016 presidential campaign because buyers feared Hillary Clinton would win and continue to strengthen gun regulations put in place by the Obama administration.

"We have seen the rise of 'political sales,' that is when people go out and purchase guns to make a political statement," Spitzer told ABC News. "Donald Trump was the 'great friend' of the National Rifle Association. They endorsed him early, then he wins and so the political incentive is gone. There's no looming threat of the national government imposing restrictions or taking guns away."

At the NRA convention last April, Trump told attendees, "You came through big for me, and I am going to come through for you. The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end."

FBI statistics show firearm background checks spiked in the last months of the 2016 presidential campaign rising from 1.87 million in May, when Trump was trailing Clinton, to 2.56 million in November, the month Trump was elected. Following the election, firearm background checks sank to 1.74 million by July 2017.

"I think Remington's decline is, in part, a reflection of the 'Trump slump,'" Adam Winkler, a professor of law at UCLA and author of the book "Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America," told ABC News.

But Winkler said Remington's financial woes are also tied to a class-action lawsuit over defective parts in the company's most popular firearms, including its iconic Model 700 rifle. As part of a settlement approved in March 2017, Remington agreed to replace the triggers for free in more than 7.5 million guns.

Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty ImagesThousands of people participate in the March on Washington for Gun Control on Jan. 26, 2013 in Washington in response to last month's school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Remington's reputation also took a hit when loved ones of those killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook, Connecticut, school massacre, filed a class action suit charging the company's marketing of its Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle, the firearm used by the killer, was responsible for the shooting. A judge threw out the suit in October 2016, ruling the company had immunity under a law passed in 2005, but the Connecticut Supreme Court is considering an appeal by the families.

"The long-term debt that they (Remington) was struggling with made the downturn in sales that much more worse for them," Winkler said.

In a statement released Monday, Remington said they have come up with a restructuring plan to reduce its debt by $700 million while injecting $145 million of new capital into its subsidiaries.

"I am confident this regrouping ensures that Remington will continue as both a strong company and an indelible part of our national heritage," Jim Geisler, executive director of Remington, said in the statement.

Trump's election partly responsible for legendary gunmaker's demise: Experts