Mark Sanford
Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an American politician and author who served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2013 to 2019, and also as the 115th governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.
For the basketball player, see Mark Sanford (basketball). For the North Dakota politician, see Mark Sanford (North Dakota politician).
Mark Sanford
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2003–2013
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Sanford was first elected to Congress in 1994. He represented South Carolina's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001. He decided against running for a fourth term in the house and instead focused on running in the 2002 gubernatorial election. In the election, he defeated Democratic incumbent Jim Hodges with 52% of the vote. Sanford ran for reelection in 2006, defeating businessman Tommy Moore with 55% of the vote. As governor, Sanford attempted to reject $700 million in stimulus funds for South Carolina from the federal Recovery Act passed in 2009,[1] but the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that only the state legislature—not the governor—had the authority to accept or decline the funds.
In June 2009, after having disappeared from the state for nearly a week, Sanford publicly revealed that he had engaged in an extramarital affair. He had led his staff to believe that he was going hiking on the Appalachian Trail, but actually went to visit his mistress, Maria Belén Chapur, in Argentina.[2] Although the scandal made national headlines, leading to his censure by the South Carolina General Assembly and his resignation as chair of the Republican Governors Association, Sanford did complete his second term as governor.
Sanford ran for Congress again in a 2013 special election for his old seat. He won the election and served in Congress from 2013 to 2019. He lost his 2018 reelection bid in a Republican primary. In September 2019, Sanford announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2020 United States presidential election.[3] He dropped out of the race on November 12, 2019.[4]
Early life and family[edit]
Marshall Clement Sanford Jr. was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Marshall Clement Sanford, a cardiothoracic surgeon, and Margaret Elise "Peggy" Pitz.[5] His family was fairly well-to-do, but slept in the same room to conserve electricity.[6] Before his senior year of high school, Sanford moved with his family from Fort Lauderdale to the 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) Coosaw Plantation near Beaufort, South Carolina. Sanford attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.[7]
Sanford received a Bachelor of Arts degree in business from Furman University in 1983 and a Master of Business Administration degree from Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia in 1988.[8]
Sanford married Jenny Sullivan[9] in November 1989.[10] The couple had four sons.[11]
Sanford founded Norton and Sanford Real Estate Investment, a leasing and brokerage company, in 1992.[12]
Involvement in presidential elections[edit]
2008[edit]
In 2006, before the midterm elections, some commentators discussed the possibility of Sanford running for president. He said that he would not run, and claimed that his re-election bid would be his last election, win or lose. After Super Tuesday in 2008, Sanford received some mention as a potential running mate for the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, John McCain.[135][136][137] Sanford publicly aligned himself with McCain in a March 15, 2008, piece in The Wall Street Journal. Likening the presidential race to a football game at halftime, Sanford noted that he "sat out the first half, not endorsing a candidate...But I'm now stepping onto the field and going to work to help John McCain. It's important that conservatives do the same."[138]
On January 11, 2008, shortly before the South Carolina presidential primaries (R Jan 19, D Jan 26), Sanford published a guest column in the Columbia newspaper The State.[139] In the article, "Obama's Symbolism Here", Sanford wrote, "I won't be voting for Barack Obama for president", but noted the "historical burden" borne by South Carolinians on the topic of race. He advised voters in South Carolina to take note of the symbolism of Obama's early success, with the knowledge that South Carolina was a segregated state less than fifty years earlier, and discouraged voting either for or against Obama on the basis of his race.
On a January 18, 2008 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer,[140] Sanford discussed his Obama article. Wolf Blitzer asked, "Give us your mind-set. Why did you think it was so important to write this piece right now at this critical moment?" Sanford responded, "Well, it plays into a larger conversation that we're having as a family of South Carolinians on, in fact, the [constitutional] structure of our government." Blitzer also showed Sanford clips of recent comments made by John McCain and Mike Huckabee about the Confederate battle flag and asked Sanford, "All right, two different positions, obviously. Who's right in this?" Sanford responded, "Well, it depends who you talk to." Sanford elaborated that "if you were to talk to the vast majority of South Carolinians, they would say that we do not need to be debating where the Confederate flag is or is not."
Sanford attracted derision in the liberal blogosphere and among pundits and analysts on the left for a gaffe during an interview with CNN's Blitzer on July 13, 2008, when he had difficulty answering a question about differences between Senator McCain and incumbent President George W. Bush on economic policy.[141] "I'm drawing a blank, and I hate when I do that, especially on television", joked Sanford.[142]
2012[edit]
As early as January 2008, there had been anticipation that Sanford would run for President in 2012, and online support groups had sprung up on social networks like Facebook for a Sanford ticket.[143][144]
At the time, the governor neither ruled out nor expressly hinted at a run.[145] Further boosting Sanford's profile in advance of a potential candidacy, he was elected as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association in November 2008[146] and was cited by Michael S. Steele, the chairman of the Republican Party as one of four "rising stars" in the GOP (alongside governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Sarah Palin of Alaska) in February 2009.[147] Sanford also received early support for a presidential run from the Republican Liberty Caucus.[148]
On February 22, 2009, Sanford declined to rule out a possible presidential bid in 2012, though he professed to have no current plans to run for national office.[149]
Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza said that the revelation of the extramarital affair in June 2009 ended Sanford's chances of being a serious candidate in 2012.[150]
On January 4, 2010, Sanford stated, "If there's anything that's abundantly clear, it's that I ain't running for president," and indicated that he would enter the private sector after his last 11 months as governor.[151]