'West Wing' creator Aaron Sorkin takes back suggestion for Democrats to nominate Mitt Romney

What's next for Democrats in the 2024 presidential election? Aaron Sorkin had an unconventional idea — but he's already taking it back.

In a controversial essay for The New York Times published Sunday, the Oscar-winning screenwriter and creator of "The West Wing" argued Democrats should choose Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, as their presidential nominee instead of President Joe Biden.

But just hours after the op-ed was published, Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him, leading Sorkin to retract his pitch.

On X, "The West Wing" actor Joshua Malina shared an email from Sorkin, who does not use social media.

"I take it all back," Sorkin wrote in the email. "Harris for America!"

A representative for Sorkin confirmed to USA TODAY that the email is legitimate.

Sorkin framed his original essay around how he would write Biden's next steps as the president faced calls to exit the race following a poor debate performance against former President Donald Trump. At the time it was written, Biden was still insisting he would not drop out.

"Nominating Mr. Romney would be putting our money where our mouth is: a clear and powerful demonstration that this election isn't about what our elections are usually about it, but about stopping a deranged man from taking power," Sorkin wrote.

The "Social Network" screenwriter observed parallels between real life and his show "The West Wing," which followed the staff of a fictional American president and aired from 1999 to 2006. In the NBC series, President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) is revealed to have multiple sclerosis, a condition he hid from the public, but still decides to run for re-election.

Sorkin compared this to Biden pressing forward with his re-election campaign despite questions about his age and viability as a candidate. But he wrote that if, like Biden, polls suggested that the president in "The West Wing" was in danger of losing to a "dangerous imbecile with an observable psychiatric disorder," he would have had him drop out of the race.

Read the letter Aaron Sorkin wrote his daughter after Trump won

Sorkin went on to lay out his proposal for Romney to replace Biden on the Democratic ticket, even though the Utah senator is a Republican who doesn't "support abortion rights." The "Newsroom" creator imagined a scenario where former president Barack Obama, who defeated Romney in the 2012 presidential election, came on stage at the Democratic National Convention to "full-throatedly" endorse his former opponent.

"The choice is between Donald Trump and not-Trump, and the not-Trump candidate needs only one qualification: to win enough votes from a cross section of Americans to close off the former president's Electoral College path back to power," Sorkin wrote, adding that this "grand gesture" and "sacrifice" would "put a lump in our throats."

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The essay sparked strong reactions on social media Sunday as many objected to the idea of running a Republican as the Democratic nominee for president. Journalist Séamus Malekafzali argued Sorkin's suggestion was "outrageously stupid even by his standards."

Sorkin's piece followed George Clooney, a prominent Democratic donor, writing an essay for The New York Times calling for Biden to step aside as the party's presidential nominee.

Sorkin is also the creator of shows like "Sports Night" and the writer of films like "Steve Jobs" and "A Few Good Men." In 2016, Vanity Fair published a letter he wrote to his daughter and wife after Trump's election win.

"I won't sugarcoat it — this is truly horrible," he wrote at the time. "It's hardly the first time my candidate didn't win (in fact it's the sixth time) but it is the first time that a thoroughly incompetent pig with dangerous ideas, a serious psychiatric disorder, no knowledge of the world and no curiosity to learn has."

Earlier this year, Sorkin revealed in an interview on "The Town" podcast that he is writing a film about Facebook's alleged responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. "I blame Facebook for Jan. 6," he said, adding that to hear more, "You're going to need to buy a movie ticket."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Sorkin pens op-ed calling for Romney nom, later supports Kamala