No relationship better tells the story of the modern Republican Party than that of Mark Sanford and Lindsey Graham.
The former governor of South Carolina and the late senator were once as close as two politicians could be. But like so many political alignments — and friendships — over the last decade, disagreements over President Donald Trump were too great to overcome.
Eight years ago, Graham said turning against Trump was the reason Sanford had been cast aside in the 2018 primary for his Charleston-area House district, despite nearly a quarter-century of ideologically consistent conservatism.
“What happened here? I think for the first time, Mark misread the tea leaves, and being in for a while became a liability. So he’s on the wrong side of new versus old,” Graham told me at the time.
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Two days after his defeat, Sanford called it “a Faustian bargain that’s going on right now.”
“I’ll pander to you if you pander to me,” he said of Trump.
Sanford declined to say whether he included his friend Graham in that bargain.
The two entered the House together in 1995 as part of the Newt Gingrich-led Republican revolution, giving the GOP a majority for the first time in 40 years. They were rabble-rousers back then, and in the years to come, Sanford seemed made in a conservative laboratory for a presidential ticket. Graham evolved into a type of bipartisan wheeler-dealer that’s now a dying breed in the Republican Party.
In a twist of fate that stretches from the Appalachian Trail to Argentina, it was Graham who received the equivalent of a state funeral this week, first with a service inside the Capitol Rotunda and then with Trump as the main eulogist at the National Cathedral.
And it was Sanford who, a few days earlier, stood alone in his backyard, filming a video to launch a long-shot bid to get back to Congress. He’s one of many Republicans trying to win the nomination to replace Graham.
“Lindsey’s death is a reminder to all of us how short and precious life is,” Sanford said in his less-than-two-minute video.
He cited his father’s death from Lou Gerhig’s disease, his status as a grandfather and his wish to finally tackle the national debt and shrink the size of federal government — the issues that launched the duo onto the national scene in 1994 — among his reasons for running.
He never mentioned that he and Graham were once so close the late senator was godfather to Sanford’s youngest child.
And he never mentioned that Trump, who supported Sanford’s primary opponent in 2018, has endorsed Graham’s sister, Darline, who is now serving as interim senator.
Sanford attended Wednesday’s service for Graham in South Carolina, but he was not among the more than dozen politicians, TV personalities and conservative activists asked to speak at memorial events over two days.
While he declined NOTUS’ interview requests this week, Sanford has tried to paint his rise, fall, rise and fall in politics as a selling point to South Carolina Republicans in this snap primary to be settled in just a couple weeks.
“All of the ups and downs and what not that I’ve had in life — that all of us have had in life — give us a little bit more humility, give us a little bit more empathy, give us a little bit better perspective, I think, in later chapters in life,” he told a local TV news interviewer on Monday.
The two were more aligned than not in those earlier chapters. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) let out a solid 10 seconds of laughter when asked Wednesday about his early memories of Graham and Sanford.
“Two of the most colorful members of our class,” said Wicker, who served as master of ceremonies two years ago for the class of 1994 reunion in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
In 1997, Graham played a leading role in an attempt to throw Gingrich out as speaker, with support from Sanford and other Republican rebels.
During the 2000 campaign, while their state’s senior Republican leadership lined up behind Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Graham and Sanford signed on with Sen. John McCain’s team.
They traveled their state in McCain’s Straight Talk Express bus and warmed up the crowds for the Arizona senator, who sometimes called them his “running mates,” already knowing their ambitions.
Two years later, Sanford won the governor’s race and Graham won his Senate seat, launching them higher into national politics.
When McCain clinched the 2008 nomination, punctuated by a big win in South Carolina, Graham stood at his side. Sanford remained neutral in that presidential primary, perhaps a sign that his conservative politics diverged from that of Graham and McCain.
Then suddenly, it seemed Sanford’s political career was over. His affair with an Argentinian woman became public in June 2009 after he had gone missing for days and aides gave false assertions he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he was actually in Buenos Aires.
Many Republicans called for his resignation, and state legislators began impeachment proceedings. But one friend gave him as much support as could be expected.
“I know Mark wants to reconcile with his family. I hope and pray that is possible,” Graham said in a statement that avoided a call for resignation. “Second chances in life are not guaranteed or required. But if they are afforded they can be a real blessing.”
While Jenny Sanford did leave her husband, Graham remained loyal to his friend. In 2013, he rallied support for Sanford during a special election for the House and helped him win back that seat.
It wasn’t Sanford’s messy personal life that ended his relationship with Graham. In the end, the Republican Party they both were a part of had shifted. It was less about conservative ideology and more about being in good company with Trump.
Graham saw the reality and moved with it.
“Along comes Trump: ‘I’m gonna burn the whole place down.’ I actually can relate to that because that’s where I used to be,” Graham told me in that June 2018 interview.
Trump won’t attack critics who he thinks want to “add value” to his success, traditional conservatism be damned, Graham said. “The head of our party is the least ideological person in the history of the Republican Party.”
Graham’s longtime bond with Sanford couldn’t protect the anti-Trump Republican from Trump’s fury during his losing 2018 primary. Graham said he learned from McCain that bygones should be bygones in politics, having gone from being prisoner of war in Vietnam to dealing with that government as a senator, and working with President Barack Obama despite his loss to him in 2008. And instead of fighting against Trump’s takeover of the party, Graham jumped on board.
“So one thing I’ve learned from John is, when it’s over, it’s over,” Graham said then.
Graham still held out hope for Sanford’s fourth act in politics if he figured out how to repair things with Trump. But with Sanford, it was never over.
Sanford launched a brief run in the 2020 Republican presidential primary. This spring, he considered running for the House seat that Republican Rep. Nancy Mace is vacating after her failed bid for governor. Then, he announced he would start a foundation dedicated to taming the national debt. And now, he’s running for Graham’s seat.
Sanford remains an anti-Trump Republican, preaching to a smaller and smaller choir but still hopeful that his decades of experience can win enough support.
He thinks that South Carolina’s voters want a truly competitive primary and will want to know more about Sen. Darline Graham’s views on policy, particularly the debt.
“I don’t think they like this idea of a coronation,” he said in a local TV interview this week.
But even after his last act in politics appeared closed back in June 2018, Sanford was not shutting the door on another comeback.
“Believe me, if there’s anybody who ever learned you never say never, it’s me,” he told me then.
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