Former governor, US representative sounds familiar warning on government overspending; State GOP announces a pre-primary televised debate
By Seanna Adcox
SCDailyGazette.com
Former Gov. Mark Sanford announced Thursday, July 23, 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 death is a “reminder to all of us how short and precious life is,” Sanford, 66, says in the video’s opening, noting his father was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease when he was in high school. That diagnosis is what prompted Sanford’s family to move to the Beaufort County property where he spent summers growing up.
His entry into the U.S. Senate race 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 and ends Tuesday, July 28. 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 Lexington businessman Sam Shepherd; former Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride, who in 2022 placed sixth in the seven-way GOP race for U.S. House won by Fry; and 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.
Sanford, a two-term governor, not only has statewide name recognition, but he could also stand 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.
Trump endorsed Darline Graham last Friday in a post encouraging her to run.
Earlier this year, Sanford jumped into the open contest for the 1st Congressional District in an effort to win back the seat he’s held twice before. He ended that bid a month later, saying he planned to form a nonprofit focused on bringing the debt down.
Despite dropping out, he still beat out most of the competition, placing fourth last month among the 11 names on the GOP ballot.
A crowded GOP field is what aided Sanford’s return to Congress in 2013, when he won a 16-way Republican primary to fill the vacancy created when then-Gov. Nikki Haley appointed Tim Scott to the U.S. Senate. It was a remarkable comeback just four years after the governor infamously went missing to visit his mistress in Argentina and reporters were incorrectly told he was “hiking the Appalachian Trail.” His political career was thought to be over when his tenure as governor ended in January 2011.
Sanford, whose frequent clashes with GOP legislative leaders included bringing piglets named “Pork” and “Barrell” into the Statehouse to criticize spending, asked voters Thursday to “look at my record in Congress and as governor in watching out for your family’s future.”
His last term in the coastal 1st Congressional District ended in January 2019 after then-state-Rep. Katie Arrington ousted him in the June 2018 GOP primary. She then lost that November to Democrat Joe Cunningham, who flipped the seat for a single term before Nancy Mace flipped it back to red in 2020.
State GOP debate
Also on Thursday, the South Carolina Republican Party announced it’s sponsoring a one-hour debate Aug. 3 with Gray Media, which will broadcast it statewide.
The party says candidates must agree to participate in a runoff debate, should they advance to the anticipated contest. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes Aug. 11, the top two vote-getters will face off Aug. 25. Final eligibility rules for the pre-primary debate are in the works, according to the party’s release.
“It’s critical that (voters) have an opportunity to compare the candidates on the issues and how they communicate their ideas to the public,” said state GOP Chairman Drew McKissick.
Early voting starts Aug. 5.
Seanna Adcox is a South Carolina native with three decades of reporting experience. After covering the S.C. Legislature and state politics for 18 years. she launched the S.C. Daily Gazette in November 2023 as the 37th state affiliate under the States Newsroom umbrella. Her previous employers include The Post and Courier and The Associated Press.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.