Former Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford announced on Tuesday that he was officially ending his bid for the Republican nomination to the presidency and dropping out of the 2020 race.
“I had planned on filing on Friday here at the state house, but I am not going to do that and let me tell you why,” Sanford told a group of reporters at a press conference outside the New Hampshire State House.
“What I have seen, and observed, and have been really mulling on this for the last two weeks or so, is that all of the oxygen is leaving the room in terms of meaningful debate — whether Republican or Democrat, but particularly on the Republican side — on what comes next in our country on a whole host of issues,” he continued. “In essence, it is pulling all of the oxygen out of the room such that in at least Republican circles you cannot have a meaningful debate on what we do about that debt, and deficit, what comes next financially in this country.”
2020 Watch-New: @MarkSanford -at a news conf. outside the NH Statehouse, tells reporters "I had planned on filing on Friday (for #FITN presidential primary) but I'm not going to do that… all of the oxygen is leaving the room" do to #impeachment #nhpolitics #scpol #2020Election pic.twitter.com/37c5O89TH9
— Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) November 12, 2019
“Instead it is red versus blue team and a complete debate about are you on that team or the other team,” Sanford added. “End of story.”
The former South Carolina governor and three-term congressman initially launched his long shot bid to challenge President Donald Trump in September. At the time of his presidential announcement, he conceded that he is aware that he faces an uphill battle in trying to unseat the incumbent president.
However, Sanford, who has long been a fiscal conservative, emphasized the growing national debt and economic uncertainty as the top issues his campaign will focus on. He referred to Trump as “the king of debt” and further criticized his used of tariffs, which he compared to a potential economic “storm” akin to the Great Depression.
Despite Sanford’s lengthy tenure in politics, he is perhaps most well known for his scandalous extramarital affair more than a decade ago while serving as the governor of South Carolina. He notably disappeared for a week in June 2009, telling his family, staff, and security detail that he was going to hike the Appalachian Trail. In actuality, Sanford traveled to Argentina to meet with his mistress.
The scandal ignited a media firestorm and Sanford ultimately resigned as the chairman of the Republican Governors Association. He was later censured by state lawmakers over the incident. Sanford, who admitted to multiple affairs, divorced his wife in 2010.
Sanford addressed the issue with Fox News’ Chris Wallace as he was preparing to kick off his presidential campaign.
“I actually went on an apology tour back home in the wake of that,” Sanford told Wallace. “And what I learned from that is … a level of humility and empathy that I didn’t have before. A level of judgment, it is a great regret, it is something I have apologized extensively for. And in contrast to the president, who says there is not a single thing that he regrets or apologizes for, I believe in the Christian Bible of repentance and renewal and a second chance.”