Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Run for Arkansas Governor
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as a White House press secretary under former President Donald J. Trump, announced her candidacy for governor of Arkansas on Monday, running for a seat her father, Mike Huckabee, once held.
Ms. Sanders is seen as the preferred candidate of Mr. Trump for the election in 2022, and her candidacy will serve, to some extent, as a test of Mr. Trump’s remaining strength in the Republican Party. The party has found itself divided after the tumultuous final weeks of Mr. 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.
She announced her run in a video posted on her website Monday morning.
When Ms. Sanders resigned as press secretary, in June 2019, Mr. Trump suggested that she run for governor in Arkansas. She is expected to face a primary, but her name recognition is expected to give her a boost at the outset.
Ms. Sanders already has a fund-raising team in place, a person briefed on her plans said. The current governor, Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, cannot run again because of term limits.
