Sarah Sanders for governor? It just might happen.
A super PAC called “Draft Sarah Sanders for Arkansas” formed just one day after President Donald Trump announced that she was leaving the White House. While Sanders has said that she wants to return home to spend time with family, there may be bigger plans further down the line for the president’s longest-serving press secretary.
It’s not clear what, if any, connection the group has with Sanders, but Sanders is “seriously considering” a run, according to Politico.
Sarah Sanders super PAC emerges
The news that Sanders was leaving the White House was met with immediate speculation that Sanders had higher political ambitions, especially after Trump publicly encouraged her to run for the office formerly held by her father, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. In initial statements, Sanders said that she wanted to focus on being with her family, but she didn’t write off the prospect of following in her father’s footsteps.
Whatever Sanders’ plans may be, there is clearly enthusiasm behind a potential Sanders gubernatorial campaign, and signs are beginning to accumulate of a potential campaign. According to Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times, a pro-Sarah Sanders Super PAC, Draft Sarah Sanders for America, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission just one day after the news that Sanders was resigning.
Super PACs are political action committees that can seek and spend unlimited campaign funds, but which are barred from directly coordinating with campaigns.
Brantley spoke with the Washington consultant who filed the paperwork, Patrick Krason. Krason said that he received a phone call “20 minutes” after Trump announced Sanders’ departure about forming a Super PAC to support her candidacy for 2022. The call came from “strong Trump supporters” in Utah, the Midwest, Texas, Nevada and Arkansas who “think she walks on water.”
Krason, who will work on campaign compliance, said that a website for the group will be up and running in days. He teased that the operation, which will focus on Arkansas, will quickly become familiar to voters in the state.
Sanders for guv?
Sanders indicated, at least initially, that she is heading home to be with family. But she may not be so ambivalent about a political run after all. According to Politico, sources close to Sanders said that she is “seriously considering” following in her father’s footsteps. Sanders and her allies have begun phoning Republican donors and groups in Arkansas, the outlet reported.
John Gilmore, political strategist for incumbent Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, pointed out last week that two websites, sarahforarkansas.com and sarahforgovernor.com, were anonymously registered in May.
In a tweet announcing Sanders’ departure, Trump encouraged Sanders to run for the office, which opens up in 2022. And President Trump winked at a possible run when he brought Sanders on stage at his re-election kickoff rally last week in Orlando, Florida. Sanders took to the podium to raucous applause after Trump told the crowd, “I have a feeling she’s going to be running for a certain gubernatorial position.”
After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2019
Allies of Sanders reportedly conducted a test poll in Arkansas to gauge her support, and it found Sanders “crushing” the Republican competition, including Lt. Governor Tim Griffin.
There is no doubt that Sanders has built a huge amount of political capital as one of the top deputies of the Trump movement. It’s hard to imagine her quitting from politics now.
Whatever Sanders may do next, her office at the White House has now been filled by Melania Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham.
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