Mark Sanford, the former governor of South Carolina who once vanished without word to his office or family for nearly a week, is considering a primary challenge to President Trump.
His explanation for his 2009 vanishing act was that he was hiking the Appalachian trail. But it turned out he had secretly flown to Brazil to spend six days with his mistress.
The Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina, reports Sanford said “he will take the next month to formulate whether he will mount a potential run against Trump.”
He said a run for president would be “a way of pushing a national debate about America’s mounting debt, deficit and government spending.”
Sanford retired from Congress last year. He previously served as governor of South Carolina and was popular among Republicans nationally.
That status, however, ended abruptly one week in June 2009. His absence was noted by reporters, and alarm grew despite his wife, Jenny Sanford, saying he needed time away to write.
He reappeared in Atlanta, arriving on a flight from Buenos Aires, and he held a news conference to confess he had been with Argentinian Maria Chapur.
Sanford and his wife later divorced, and lawmakers voted against impeachment because his term in office was nearly over.
He returned to the U.S. House in 2013, where he had served from 1995 to 2001. He won a third consecutive term in 2016, despite President Trump withdrawing his support. The move was prompted by a complaint from Jenny Sanford that her husband has trespassed on her property during the divorce proceedings.
‘You’ve got to say what you’ve got to say’
Sanford told the News and Courier he’s considering entering the 2020 race to combat the rising deficit and government spending.
“Sometimes in life you’ve got to say what you’ve got to say, whether there’s an audience or not for that message,” Sanford said. “I feel convicted.”
If he gets into the race, he would face “mammoth odds” of getting support from the Republican Party, the paper observed.
“I’m a Republican. I think the Republican Party has lost its way on debt, spending and financial matters,” Sanford said.
While in Congress, had opposed Trump on a number of issues, and Trump was no fan of Sanford.
“Trump reportedly made fun of the Charleston Republican in a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, where some members of Congress reportedly booed president for his comments. Trump denied the reports, tweeting the following day that Republicans ‘applauded and laughed loudly’ when he picked on Sanford,” the report said.
Sanford and Chapur later became engaged but eventually broke it off.
