Mark Sanford makes a last-minute bid to return to Congress — again — in South Carolina
Mar 30, 2026, 8:17 AM
FILE - Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford speaks during a news conference in front of the Statehouse, Nov. 12, 2019, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina congressman and governor whose political ascendency was stalled by a 2009 affair, wants to return to Congress — again.
Just hours ahead of the deadline to do so, Sanford filed candidacy paperwork with state officials to run in the June 9 GOP primary for South Carolina’s 1st District seat, which he has held twice before.
Sanford’s first political office was in the 1st District. An outsider with almost no name recognition, he navigated a primary for the open seat, finishing second before winning the runoff. He served for six years before his outside run at governor, again pushing his way through a crowded primary, then knocking off the last Democrat to hold the office.
But his eight years were overshadowed by the Appalachian Trail, which became shorthand for Sanford’s disappearance to go to Argentina to see his lover. Sanford’s wife, family and his staff didn’t know where he was.
Beating back both an ethics inquiry and calls to resign, Sanford held fast, leaving office on his own terms.
In 2013, Sanford won back his old seat, beating 15 other candidates in a primary and runoff. He won two more full terms before falling to a GOP challenger in 2018 who had President Donald Trump’s backing.
The seat would go on to flip to Democratic hands that fall for the first time in decades, won back by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace in 2020. Mace is running for governor this year.
Sanford, 65, also briefly ran for president in 2020, challenging Trump for the nomination but dropping out of the contest just ahead of the New Hampshire primary, not competing in his home state’s GOP primary.
Sanford did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Monday. Since leaving the U.S. House, Sanford has hung onto more than $1.3 million in a federal campaign account, funds that he can now use in a primary already crowded with multiple Republican and Democratic candidates.
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Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
