Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee for president, will meet face to face privately in Utah Thursday.
The meeting, which was first reported by The New York Times late Wednesday, had been scheduled for months. It was proposed by Bush and had originally been meant for Bush to “show respect” for Romney, according to the Times.
More recently both Bush and Romney have taken steps signaling plans for running for president in 2016. The meeting was planned before Romney told a group of donors he was considering running for president a third time.
Both former governors are aligned with the establishment wing of the Republican party and so would be competing for the same space if they both decided to run for president.
“This meeting has been on the books for a while,” Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell confirmed to TPM of the Thursday meeting. “Governor Bush is looking forward to catching up with Governor Romney.”
