Mark Sanford

Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an American politician, real estate developer and author who served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001 and from 2013 to 2019, and as the 115th governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Sanford was first elected to Congress in 1994, serving three terms in the House of Representatives. He ran for governor in 2002, defeating Democratic incumbent Jim Hodges, and was re-elected in 2006. As governor, Sanford attempted to reject $700 million in stimulus funds for South Carolina from the federal Recovery Act passed in 2009, but the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that only the state legislature had the authority to accept or decline the funds. Sanford successfully ran for Congress in a 2013 special election for his old seat. He ran for re-election in 2018 but lost renomination in the Republican primary to Katie Arrington. In 2019, Sanford launched a 2020 presidential campaign, seeking to challenge incumbent President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, but shortly dropped out of the race. In 2026, he filed to run for his old seat, but later withdrew. After Senator Lindsey Graham died, Sanford launched a bid for the Republican special Senate nomination for that seat, failing to make the runoff by placing fourth.