Mark Sanford (28 May 1960-) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-SC 1) from 3 January 1995 to 3 January 2001 (succeeding Arthur Ravenel Jr. and preceding Henry E. Brown Jr.) and from 7 May 2013 to 3 January 2019 (succeeding Tim Scott and preceding Joe Cunningham), as well as Governor of South Carolina from 15 January 2003 to 12 January 2011, succeeding Jim Hodges and preceding Nikki Haley.
Biography[]
Mark Sanford was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1960, and he owned his own leasing and brokerage company before being elected to the US House of Representatives in 1994. He was a staunch conservative, and he promised to serve only three years in the US Congress. In 2002, he was elected Governor of South Carolina in the election that gave the Republican Party full control of state government for the first time since Reconstruction. By 2009, his approval rating had dropped to 34% due to his rivalry with the state legislature and his conservative policies, and he persuaded Nikki Haley to run as his successor in 2010. In 2013, he returned to the Congress after Tim Scott was elevated to the US Senate, despite having been the source of controversy due to an extramarital affair. In 2018, he was defeated for re-election in an upset victory for Democratic challenger Joe Cunningham. On 9 August 2020, he announced that he was mulling over a primary challenge to President Donald Trump during the 2020 presidential election.