UPDATE
May 1, 2026 7:03 AM CDT
Mark Sanford has abandoned his latest political comeback bid after a month, and he says he had doubts from Day 1. The former South Carolina governor tells the Post and Courier that when he filed to enter the GOP primary for his old House seat on March 30, he realized he had mixed feelings about whether returning to Congress would make a difference to the debt and deficit issues he has focused on. He says he plans to launch a nonprofit focused on those issues instead. Sanford, who turns 66 later this month, says his first grandchild is on the way and hitting the campaign trail made him realize he wants to spend more time with his family.
- "What I hope to do is to indeed build a grassroots organization—start small, but I have a fair-size circle of friends and folks with whom I have some degree of influence and contacts," Sanford told the AP. Asked if he was done with politics for good, he said, "Look, if there's ever a guy who would say, 'Never say never,' it's me. But I think, realistically, yeah, and it's recognition of that being the case."
Mar 30, 2026 12:24 PM CDT
Mark Sanford is suiting up for another run for Congress in South Carolina, aiming to reclaim the Charleston-area House seat he lost in 2018, reports Politico. The former governor and congressman filed on Monday, the last possible day, jumping into a crowded field opened by Rep. Nancy Mace's decision to run for governor. "People have been telling me it's time to get off the bleachers," the 65-year-old Republican tells the Post and Courier, arguing that voters are now more attuned to the fiscal warnings he's sounded for years.
Sanford has been off the ballot since his quixotic 2020 GOP presidential bid, which he ran largely to spotlight the nation's balance sheet. He reenters politics with about $1.3 million left from earlier campaigns, but also with well-known liabilities. He lost his House seat after President Trump (in his first term) backed Sanford's primary opponent, and the two tangled repeatedly over Trump's conduct. Sanford also remains linked to one of South Carolina's most infamous scandals: his 2009 disappearance to see his mistress in Argentina, initially explained to the public as "hiking the Appalachian Trail."
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