Ex-South Carolina Governor and Congressman Mark Sanford Announces Run for Lindsey Graham’s Senate Seat

The former governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, says he is running for Senator Lindsey Graham’s seat in next month’s special GOP primary. Graham’s death is forcing South Carolina Republicans back to the polls in just over two weeks. Mr. Sanford, who served as governor of the state from 2003 to 2011, was once considered a rising star in his party, with many believing that he would be the perfect candidate to take on President Obama in the 2012 election. That was until he went missing for multiple days in 2009, only to be caught returning from Argentina and later admitting to having an affair with a woman from that country. Mr. Sanford served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, and again from 2013 to 2019. “Lindsey’s death is a reminder to all of us how short and precious life is,” Mr. Sanford said in his Senate campaign announcement video on Thursday. He opined on the shortness of life and individuals’ responsibility to the next generation. He said that, as a father and grandfather, he believes that a fiscal conservative must be elected to the Senate in order to slash federal spending and begin tackling the national debt. “Our ability to afford things, inflation, and the way people struggle to build a life are but symptoms of spending beyond our means as a country,” Mr. Sanford said. “We’re at a tipping point.”Mr. Sanford won President Trump’s ire during his first term in the White House after the then-congressman and a band of other hardline conservatives opposed the president’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Sanford and others said at the time that the bill did not go far enough in limiting the government’s role in subsidizing the healthcare system. In 2018, Mr. Sanford lost his Republican primary for another term in Congress to a Trump-backed challenger. He went on to run for president in 2020 as an anti-federal spending gadfly, and considered running for Congress again this year after his current representative, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, launched her campaign for governor. According to Federal Election Commission records, Mr. Sanford still has more than $1.3 million in his congressional campaign account which he can now use for a Senate run. He is set to face off against a host of well-known opponents in the Republican Senate primary, which will take place on August 11. If no candidate wins a majority that day, then a runoff election will take place two weeks later on August 25.As of Friday, four other candidates have already declared that they will run for the seat — Graham’s sister who was appoint to fill the remainder of his term, Senator Darline Graham, Congressman Ralph Norman, Congressman Russell Fry, and Mark Lynch, who challenged the late Graham in this year’s GOP Senate primary but lost by a wide margin. South Carolina lieutenant governor Pam Evette has also signaled an interest in running in the primary, though she has not yet announced her intentions. According to polling, no candidate is expected to win a majority of the vote on August 11, even though Ms. Graham has been endorsed by Mr. Trump. Mr. Sanford currently registers at about five percent in the polls, compared to Mr. Norman who takes around 20 percent and Ms. Graham who takes about 15 percent. Messrs. Fry and Lynch each take about ten percent in polling.

Ex-South Carolina Governor and Congressman Mark Sanford Announces Run for Lindsey Graham’s Senate Seat

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