Sarah Huckabee Sanders is running for governor of Arkansas in the 2022 election, CBS News has confirmed. A source familiar with his plans said he will make the announcement Monday.
The current Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, cannot run again due to tenure limits.
Sanders, daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, became a household name while working as a member of Trump’s White House communications team. Initially, she served as deputy press secretary in the White House before taking over as press secretary after Sean Spicer resigned. Publicly known for her contrary relationship with the press, she had a good private relationship with many journalists.
When he left the administration in June 2019, he did not hold any press sessions in more than 100 days. She tweeted at the time as she walked away with her “head held high.”
Sanders served as press secretary for two years. His successor, Stephanie Grisham, stays after 10 months without holding any press session. Sanders, one of the original employees of Trump’s White House, called to work for Mr. Trump the “lifelong opportunity.”
His candidacy for governor was widely awaited: Mr. Trump tweeted when he left the press office he hoped to run.
“After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave the White House at the end of the month and return home to the Great State of Arkansas,” Trump wrote in June 2019 on his Twitter account now deleted. . “She’s a very special person with extraordinary talents, she’s done an amazing job! I hope she decides to run for the governor of Arkansas; she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for the job well done!”
Sanders was Trump’s favorite adviser, and she was a frequent guest at his rallies during the campaign, even after leaving the White House.
Since leaving the White House, Sanders has published a best-selling book, “Speaking for Myself: Faith, Freedom and the Fight for Our Lives Inside the Trump White House,” which details her time as the first working mother to was the White House press secretary.
“As a working mother, I have not lost the great honor and privilege of being here on the podium,” she said memorably during a briefing.
Sanders also compared her time as press secretary as trapped in a “furious battle between the president and the media.”
“I often felt like I was on the front line of no one’s land,” Sander wrote.
Sanders will jump into a Republican primary race that already includes two state-elected officials: Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin and state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.