Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford speaks to the media during a campaign stop at the Statehouse on Sept. 16, 2019, in Columbia, South Carolina, during his brief presidential campaign. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Former Gov. Mark Sanford announced Thursday he’s joining the race to replace U.S. Senate Lindsey Graham on a pledge to “get Washington’s finances back in order.”
It’s a familiar message for Sanford, who’s spent decades as a congressman, governor, and presidential candidate warning about the nation’s escalating debt.
According to the U.S. Treasury, that debt has climbed to nearly $39.7 trillion, up from $4.7 trillion when Sanford was first elected to the U.S. House in 1994.
“I’m worried for our children because for the first time, America’s borrowing from the future faster than we’re building it,” Sanford says in a video announcing his bid. “If left unaddressed, that debt will crush our economy. It will wipe out our savings, and it could even destroy our republic.”
Sanford is among a growing list of candidates seeking the GOP nomination in next month’s special primary following Graham’s death July 11 at age 71.
His entry follows announcements by U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman of the 5th District, U.S. Rep. Russell Fry of the 7th District, and Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, who was sworn in last week to fulfill the late senator’s term that ends in January.
Candidate filing for the Aug. 11 primary began Tuesday. Five other candidates have turned in their paperwork to be on the ballot.
They include Upstate businessman Mark Lynch, who placed a distant second in the GOP primary Lindsey Graham won easily last month.
Others include Duke Bukner, a Walterboro attorney who’s twice unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn in the heavily Democratic 6th District. One candidate doesn’t live in the state — yet. Clark Neilson filed Tuesday with a Charlotte address but plans to build a house on land he owns in Charleston County, The State newspaper reported.
Earlier this year, Sanford jumped into the open contest for the 1st District in an effort to win back the seat he’s held twice before. But he ended that bid less than a month later, saying he planned to form a nonprofit to advocate for bringing the debt down.
The two-term governor not only has statewide name recognition, but he could stand also out from the crowd as a candidate not touting an alignment with President Donald Trump.
In 2019, Sanford launched a bid to challenge Trump’s bid for a second term, hoping to spark a national debate about the mounting debt. But his short-lived presidential campaign never got traction. Even the South Carolina GOP refused to hold a 2020 presidential primary, which Sanford protested by traveling the state with a cardboard cutout of Trump.
Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
