Mark Sanford is prepared to become President Trump’s political punching bag should he decide to challenge the White House incumbent for the 2020 Republican nomination.
“Nobody relishes being nicknamed by the president, but you know what? What I relish even less is us going into a financial spiral and the opportunities that my boys would otherwise have not being there. I think that that’s a much greater peril,” Sanford, the former South Carolina governor and congressman told the Washington Examiner.
Sanford, 59, infamously disappeared from public view for almost a week in 2009 during his second term as his state’s chief executive. Sanford had escaped to South America to see his Argentine mistress. He failed to check in which his then-wife and mother of his four children, Jenny Sanford, expediting their separation. The episode provided plenty of fodder for late night TV hosts, as the original excuse cited by Sanford’s gubernatorial staff for his absence, “hiking the Appalachian Trail,” was exposed as a lie to the public
Now Sanford is giving himself until Labor Day to weigh whether he wants to enter the Republican primary fray, campaigning on a message of fiscal conservativism.
Sanford is justifying his potential bid by citing recent polls conducted in early-nominating states New Hampshire and South Carolina that reveal GOP voters would like a primary challenge, despite their continued support of Trump. But Sanford said his strategy wouldn’t include directly hitting back at the president, who is likely to leverage his scandal-plagued past against him.
“It would not be combative to be combative. It would be challenging different thoughts and ideas in a constructive fashion in the hope that we ultimately end up a stronger Republican Party going forward as a consequence,” he said.
[Opinion: Trump’s reckless budget deal with Pelosi provides opening for Mark Sanford primary challenge]
Sanford, who lost his own primary for South Carolina’s 1st congressional district to a Trump ally during the 2018 midterm cycle, returned to the Palmetto State last week after a three-day swing through New Hampshire to assess his chances in the Granite State. New Hampshire is pivotal to his calculus as voters have a history of caring about fiscal issues and have been supportive of insurgent campaigns in the past.
Political commentator Pat Buchanan, for example, weakened former President George H. W. Bush before the 1992 general election with a strong showing in the New Hampshire primary that year. Prior to that, former President Harry Truman’s disappointing results in the state in 1952 led him to abandon his aspirations for a second term in the White House. In 1968, Democratic President Lyndon Johnson also quit his reelection bid after a narrow-than-expected New Hampshire win.
Although receiving “the full gambit” of feedback during his trip, Sanford said he was steadfast in his belief that the GOP needed to become the party of fiscal responsibility again.
“[There are] a number of other similar stories where the point is not winning, but the point was, by doing at least reasonably well, it had a chilling effect on the perceived front-runner campaign,” he said. “You have to define winning, what winning is for you.”
Adopting a fiscal approach opens up a lane for Sanford to the right of Trump as former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, the only other declared challenger, takes the president on from the middle with his more moderate positions. While Trump has proudly touted himself as “the King of Debt,” Sanford said he could additionally differentiate himself from the president with his tone, as well as his foreign policy and trade policies.
Regardless, the ex-lawmaker, who served in Congress from 1995 to 2001 and then 2013 to 2019, is realistic about his prospects given a sitting president hasn’t lost his party’s nomination since former President Chester Arthur in 1884.
“I think our first objective will be, in determining go versus no-go, could you or could you not get some degree of a message out there on debt, and spending, and accumulated deficit that are going well beyond the point of sustainability? I think at some level you could, in which case that’s a green light,” he said. “Can you have a robust debate as to what it means to be a Republican, whether that’s the engagement with the rest of the world component that we were talking about or a question of tone? I don’t know, that’s probably more difficult, it’s a flashing yellow light. Is there a direct electoral path to beating Trump? No, I put that as a red light,” he added.
History isn’t the only obstacle Sanford has to overcome. He faces opposition from the Republican National Committee and establishment figures, who could erect barriers to entry in state party-run primaries and caucuses like those in South Carolina and Nevada. Sanford said he’s depending on grassroots activism to shame officials into letting him compete in the contests, simultaneously relying on small-dollar donors who agree with his rationale for running to fund his efforts. Despite the odds, he remains optimistic.
“Right now we’re having a very robust debate on the Democratic side as to what the Democratic Party stands for, what it values, but we’re not having a concurrent debate on the Republican side,” he said. “And I feel some level of call to call an ace an ace and to point out the emergency. What people choose to do or don’t do is their business, but I feel a real call on that front.”
