A second political comeback? Mark Sanford files to run for South Carolina congressional seat

Joseph Bustos, The State on Mar 30, 2026

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who served six terms in Congress, wants to return to Washington.

Sanford on Monday filed to run for the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace. Mace is running for governor this cycle.

Sanford has been in private business since losing his Lowcountry seat after being defeated in a primary in 2018. Sanford has kept his congressional campaign open with the Federal Election Commission. At the end of last year, he had $1.3 million in the account.

He also served two terms as governor often battling with the General Assembly. His tenure in the governor’s office was marred by an extramarital affair he had with a woman in Argentina. He disappeared for several days to travel to Argentina even though he told people he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Sanford made a political comeback in 2013 when he won a special election. He served his second stint in Congress before losing in the 2018 primary to Katie Arrington. He ran for president in the 2020 cycle, but never mounted a serious challenge to President Donald Trump.

Now he’s looking to make a second political comeback continuing his message against deficit spending, government expansion and foreign entanglements that don’t directly effect Americans, his campaign said in a news release.

“Our nation’s debt is the issue that will define whether this country survives in the form we’ve known it,” Sanford said. “It will also define how young and old fare over the years ahead, because inflation and interest rates, the value of the dollar, and our ability to afford all that goes with building and sustaining our lives will be driven by what happens next in confronting Washington’s addiction to spending money we don’t have on programs we can’t afford.”

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