Disgraced former governor wins back House seat
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford revived a scandal-scarred political career by winning back his old congressional seat Tuesday in a district that hasn’t elected a Democrat in three decades.
The comeback was complete when he defeated Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert. With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, Sanford had 54 percent of the vote.
Sanford, who turns 53 this month, has never lost a race in three runs for Congress and two for governor. He said before the votes were counted Tuesday that if he lost this race, he wouldn’t run for office again.
“I think you can go back in and you can ask for a second chance in a political sense once,” he said Tuesday after voting in the special election.
Sanford saw his political career disintegrate four years ago when he disappeared for five days, telling his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. He returned to admit he had been in Argentina with his mistress — a woman to whom he is now engaged.
He later paid a $70,000 ethics fine, the largest in state history, for using public money to fly for personal purposes. His wife, Jenny, divorced him.
Sanford’s 1st District, slightly reconfigured from the one he held for three terms in the 1990s, is strongly Republican. But Sanford had to battle against his own past indiscretions and Colbert Busch’s well-financed campaign, which out-raised his campaign.
Three weeks before the special election, news surfaced that Sanford’s ex-wife had filed a court complaint alleging he was in her house without permission in violation of their divorce decree, leading the National Republican Congressional Committee to pull its support from the campaign. Sanford must appear in court Thursday on the complaint.
Sanford said he tried to get in touch with his ex-wife and was in the house so his youngest son would not have to watch the Super Bowl alone.
The seat became vacant when U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint resigned from his Senate seat late last year. Governor Nikki Haley then appointed the sitting congressman, Tim Scott, to fill DeMint’s seat.
Gabriel Guillard, 49, a massage therapist and teacher, said she would have voted for anyone but Sanford. “I would do anything to make sure Mark Sanford doesn’t get back in because of his past behavior,” she said. “And I am so tired of South Carolina being a laughingstock. I’m so sick of it.”
Colbert Busch, 58, was endorsed by the Post and Courier of Charleston, which called her “a welcome tonic” for those who suffer from “Sanford Fatigue.”
Sanford was endorsed by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a Tea Party favorite who is wellknown in the district.