Sarah Huckabee Sanders to run for Arkansas governor

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as a White House press secretary under former President Donald Trump, will formally announce her candidacy for governor of Arkansas on Monday in a video set to go online in the morning, a person briefed on her plans said.

Sanders will be running for a seat her father, Mike Huckabee, once held, and she is seen as the preferred candidate of Trump.

She will also be, to some extent, a test of Trump’s remaining strength in the Republican Party, which has found itself divided after the tumultuous final weeks of Trump’s presidency, his false claims of widespread voter fraud and his role in igniting a riot by his supporters at the Capitol on Jan 6.

When Sanders resigned as press secretary, in June 2019, Trump suggested that she run for governor in Arkansas. She is expected to face a primary, but her name recognition alone is expected to give her a boost at the outset.

Sanders already has a fundraising team in place, another person briefed on her plans said.

Sanders was one of Trump’s favorite advisers while she worked for him. But she also was a lightning rod for criticism while she was the press secretary, particularly for her frequent sparring with reporters from the White House briefing room.

 

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