Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to headline signature South Carolina GOP event

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is set to headline the latest iteration of an event previously billed as the largest annual gathering of Republicans in South Carolina, a state traditionally key to picking the GOP’s presidential nominees, and one in which she already has deep relationships.

Rep. Sheri Biggs of South Carolina’s 3rd District told The Associated Press that Sanders would be the featured speaker at her Salute to Liberty, slated to take place Aug. 18 in Anderson. In an interview last week, Biggs said she felt the governor “represents what the people in the 3rd District believe in, our morals, just down-to-earth hardworking people that love the Lord and want to live in peace with their families and uphold our conservative values.”

Historically a catalyst for Republican White House hopefuls, the South Carolina venue provides Sanders a chance to introduce herself to a large number — typically around 2,000 — of party activists. It’s also a crowd with which President Donald Trump — whom she served as press secretary during his first administration — remains popular.

Sanders, whose name comes up among potential 2028 presidential contenders, has been making trips to South Carolina since her father, former Arkansas governor and current U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, sought the 2008 GOP nomination. She’s recently been in other early-voting states herself, including a speech earlier this month at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, an annual event held by a conservative Christian group.

For years, the South Carolina occasion was billed as Rep. Jeff Duncan’s Faith & Freedom BBQ, a fundraiser benefiting his reelection campaign. In a conservative-rich area, it became a showcase for future White House contenders, including then-Vice President Mike Pence, Sens. Ted Cruz, Tim Scott and Marco Rubio, and former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

The barbecue was upended just weeks after the 2023 event, when Duncan’s wife filed for divorce, saying the congressman left her, was having a sexual relationship with a lobbyist and had been unfaithful before during their 35-year marriage. Last year, Duncan opted not to seek reelection to an eighth term, following the 2023 diminishment of his reputation for conservative family values.

In her first political run, Biggs — a nurse practitioner and Air National Guard officer — defeated a Trump-backed primary opponent last year. Mark Burns, a Black pastor who has been by Trump’s side for nearly a decade, had unsuccessfully run for Congress twice before.

Biggs easily won the general election in the district, which has been in GOP hands since Republican Lindsey Graham, who is now seeking his fifth U.S. Senate term, won it in 1994. Six months into her first term, Biggs said that she knew she wanted a district-unifying event of her own, as well as one that could continue to act as a showcase for potential GOP presidential candidates seeking to get to know its voters.

“I do want people to know that I’m here to serve this district, and that means making myself available and being out front and accessible to our voters, and hearing their needs,” she said. “I’m here to serve the district, and that doesn’t just mean everybody who voted for me.”

In some ways, Biggs’ event will be familiar. It’s being held in the same venue as Duncan’s barbecue, a civics center in Anderson, and there will still be $1 tickets for law enforcement officers and first responders. As for the menu, Biggs said she’ll be shifting away from the buffet line of barbecue, baked beans and rolls, with a catered, “more of a sit-down type of dinner.”

“It’s not so much that I don’t think the barbecue was great, I just want my own identity,” Biggs said. “I want people to realize that it’s a new ballgame, and I want to move forward on my own accord.”

___

Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP