Sarah Huckabee Sanders Announces Run for Arkansas Governor

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced her run for Arkansas governor on Monday morning with a campaign video, drawing heavily on her time in the administration of former President Donald Trump.

Leaning into the same "law and order" rhetoric of her former boss, the daughter of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee briefly mentioned the recent attack on the U.S. Capitol building by a mob of Trump supporters.

"We've seen violence in our streets, at a congressional baseball practice and at our Capitol," Sanders said in her announcement video. "This is not who we are as Americans. To remain free, we must have law and order."

She did not, however, mention the former president's role in inciting the attack, for which he was recently impeached an unprecedented second time.

Instead, Sanders, 38, took aim at "cancel culture," which she said would "only further divide and destroy us."

"Everything we love about America is at stake and with the radical left now in control of Washington, your governor is your last line of defense," Sanders said. "In fact, your governor must be on the front line. So today, I announced my candidacy for governor of Arkansas, and ask for your prayers and support."

I'm in —> https://t.co/8bmfl3ZPgp

Watch ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/khDPEk0orU

— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) January 25, 2021

Sanders has long been rumored to be launching a 2022 campaign, but demurred when asked about her future plans last September during an interview on ABC's Good Morning America.

Asked by host George Stephanopoulos whether she had plans to launch a gubernatorial campaign, Sanders simply said: "We'll see."

"Right now my focus is on the 2020 election, helping the president get re-elected," Sanders said then. "I'd love to see us pick up some more seats in the Senate and take back the House, and I'll make a decision on that after we get through 2020."

President Trump did not get reelected, losing both the popular and electoral votes to President Joe Biden, who was sworn in Jan. 20 alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.

The GOP also did not reclaim a majority of seats in the House of Representatives and lost its majority in the Senate after Democrats won a pair of runoff races in Georgia earlier this month.

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Sanders previously said she felt she had been "been called" to run for office, telling The New York Times in 2019: "There are two types of people who run for office. People that are called and people that just want to be a senator or governor. I feel like I've been called."

Sanders became deputy White House press secretary in January 2017, after working as a senior adviser to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. She took over as press secretary when Sean Spicer, Trump's first press secretary, abruptly left in the summer of 2017.

Her 22-month White House tenure was marred by controversy, including an instance in which she told reporters misleading statements about the FBI's support of James Comey, which she later attributed to a "slip of the tongue."

Sanders was also known for not holding regular press briefings. After leaving the White House, Sanders joined Fox News as a paid, on-air contributor in 2019. A FOX News Media spokesperson confirmed on Monday that her contributor agreement with the network has since been terminated. Last year, Sanders published a memoir about her time at the White House.

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Last June, Trump tweeted that Sanders "is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas – she would be fantastic."