Sanford to make GOP bid against Trump
WASHINGTON – Former South Carolina governor and two-time U.S. congressman Mark Sanford announced Sunday that he would challenge President Donald Trump for the Republican Party nomination in the 2020 presidential race.
Sanford made the announcement Sunday on Fox News, becoming the third GOP candidate to launch a long-shot bid for the party’s nomination.
“I am here to tell you now that I am going to get in,” he said.
The announcement came one day after South Carolina’s GOP announced it would not hold primaries in the state, instead offering support to Trump. The move, which the state’s Republican Party said was unnecessary because Trump had “no legitimate primary challenger,” means Sanford would not be able to win his home state. Kansas has also said it would halt its Republican caucus, and other states are expected to follow in canceling GOP contests, including Nevada and Arizona.
Sanford, who has been mulling a presidential bid for weeks, has acknowledged the chances of winning are slim, but Sanford insisted in an interview with The Greenville News his reemergence into the political spotlight revolved around concerns about the rising national debt and wasn’t about settling a personal score.
“This isn’t about weakening the president or electing Democrats,” Sanford said.
“In political movements, people circle the wagons. That’s never been my personal style of politics.”
In the June 2018 Republican primary, Sanford lost to Katie Arrington.