Mark Sanford, the former congressman and governor of South Carolina, announced Thursday that he will run for the Senate seat held until recently by the late Lindsey Graham.
“Our country is at a financial tipping point, and I can’t sit on the sidelines while Washington adds a trillion dollars to the debt every 100 days,” Sanford said in a post on X. “I’ve spent my entire time in politics fighting this fight, and I’m running for U.S. Senate to keep the American dream alive for our sons, my grandson, and those you love.”
The post was accompanied by a video of Sanford saying Graham’s death is a reminder of “how short and precious life is.”
Graham’s seat is temporarily being filled by his sister, Darline Graham, who was appointed to serve out his term by Gov. Henry McMaster. She also announced this week that she would campaign for a full term, earning Trump’s endorsement after she met with him at the White House.
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“The president met with Darline and thought she will be a great representative for the great people of South Carolina, and will carry on her brother’s legacy of public service in that beautiful state,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing Thursday.
The primary is set for Aug. 11.
It’s unclear how Sanford will fare in the crowded race, which also includes Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman.
A longtime fixture of South Carolina politics, Sanford enters the contest with a lengthy résumé — he served as governor from 2003 to 2011, and represented the 1st Congressional District twice, between 1995 and 2001 and between 2013 and 2019. But he also has an long list of scandals to contend with.
When he was governor in 2009, Sanford admitted to having an affair. The tabloid-ready story took on a new life after Sanford attempted to cover his tracks by telling reporters that he was hiking the Appalachian trail. In reality, he had been in Argentina with his mistress for five days.
His wife, Jenny Sanford, and their two sons moved out of the governor’s mansion shortly after, and their subsequent divorce played out in the headlines.
Sanford also reportedly had a romantic relationship in 2020 with Olivia Nuzzi, once a star political reporter whose career and personal life unraveled after her affairs with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Sanford, were publicly revealed.
While the Grahams — and Sanford’s other two challengers for the Senate seat, Fry and Norman — have been staunch allies of President Donald Trump, Sanford has been a critic, even launching a short-lived presidential bid against him in 2020.
In 2021, Sanford told The Guardian that he found “everything” about Trump and his MAGA cohort objectionable.
“The whole thing was all so contrary to the idea of a pluralistic society and an institution of checks and balances. It’s like this guy would make a great dictator, but that’s not what the American system is about,” Sanford told the outlet.
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