President Donald Trump’s recent remarks on the topic are drumming up excitement among both Republicans and Democrats over the possibility that Sarah Sanders will run for governor of Arkansas after leaving her position as White House press secretary at the end of this month.
As the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sanders would be in a strong position to run in in the strongly Republican state in 2022, when current Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s term is up. Hutchinson is not eligible for re-election due to term limits, and so far, Sanders has not ruled out a gubernatorial bid.
One tough cookie
If Sanders were to run in 2022, she’d have President Donald Trump’s support. Her soon-to-be-former boss endorsed the idea of a gubernatorial bid by Sanders in his farewell speech to her and at his re-election kickoff rally in Florida last week.
“I have a feeling she’s going to be running for a certain gubernatorial position,” Trump said at the rally. “She’d be tough, right?”
Indeed, as press secretary, Sanders was one of Trump’s most loyal defenders. She was tough and unyielding under an onslaught of hostile questions from reporters, and she gave as good as she got on a regular basis.
Her public profile earned her fans and enemies, who often clashed on social media. Detractors made fun of her plain appearance and her weight and insinuated that her Christian faith made her ignorant.
These ugly attacks, as they often do, caused others to support and defend her. Here was a simple woman of faith, a mother of three, who could stand up to a horde of hostile reporters and fight for the truth in the middle of so many lies they were trying to tell about her boss.
In the end, though, Sanders said that her family needed her in Arkansas and it was time to go home.
Looking forward
For her part, Sanders is well-known in Arkansas and worked on several other campaigns before being tapped as press secretary. Trump’s popularity in the state is also higher than the national average, which could bode well for Sanders if she runs for office.
But there are other powerful figures in Arkansas who could be strong rivals for Sanders, including Hutchinson’s nephew and state Senate President Jim Hendren, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, and Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin.
Still, political strategist Bill Vickery said it is likely that money could pour into her campaign from outside the state because of Sanders’ national profile.
“She will have 10 times the amount of money needed to win,” he said. “That same amount will be spent to defeat her. We will be awash in money.”
Even so, the governor election won’t be held for three years, and a lot can happen in that time frame. What will Sanders do meanwhile to keep her name in the public eye?
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