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by MARK POWELL
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We were chatting with a national Republican strategist in Washington, D.C. over the weekend about the growing field of candidates in the upcoming U.S. Senate special primary in South Carolina when our source made an interesting observation about former S.C. governor/congressman Mark Sanford – a recent entry into the race.
“Mark Sanford is now officially the Harold Stassen of South Carolina politics,” the operative opined.
Wait… “Harold who?”
That’s a fair question. But when you hear his story, you’ll agree the comparison is both accurate… and damning.
Growing up in Minnesota, Harold Stassen seemed destined for greatness from the very start. He graduated from high school at fifteen, was a talented orator and debater, earned his law degree, and was quickly elected county attorney — at age 23. He stayed on the fast track, too, making folks dizzy with his swift advances. Little wonder that when he was elected governor of Minnesota in 1938 — at the ripe old age of 31 — he had acquired a new nickname: the Boy Wonder of the Republican Party.
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Stassen was playing on the national political stage now. The buzz around him grew so loud there was even talk of him running for president in 1940… until someone realized he wouldn’t have attained the constitutionally required 35 years of age by then.
Easily reelected governor in 1940 and 1942, he fulfilled a promise to voters and gave up the governor’s mansion to serve in World War II. While he was in the Pacific, supporters tried to land him the 1944 Republican presidential nomination.
Back home after V-J Day, Stassen tried again in 1948 – getting 22% of the primary vote in that year’s election. Unfortunately for him, two big dogs blocked his path to the White House. Thomas Dewey, the popular New York governor (and 1944 nominee), and Ohio Senator Robert Taft (son of the former president).
Dewey won on the first ballot… and for the first time, Stassen saw his momentum blunted.
It wouldn’t be the last time that happened, though…
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Stassen ran for president again in 1952, achieving roughly half the level of support he’d gotten in his prior campaign. Twelve years later, in 1964, he tried again – failing to eclipse 2% support. Undeterred, he ran again in 1968, 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992 – never eclipsing 1% support in any of those five elections.
Stassen ran for president nine times in all… a record that stands to this day (although he has since been tied by the late Lyndon LaRouche).
As his Quixotic campaigns stacked up, Harold Stassen became the poster boy for perennial candidates. In the process, a once-promising political career morphed into a punchline for comedians: “Harold Stassen is running for president again; it must be a leap year,” or “three things in life are inevitable: Death, taxes, and Harold Stassen running for president.”
Here’s where Mark Sanford enters the story. By now the similarities are obvious. Although the offices he’s seeking are a little lower on the electoral totem pole, the former “Luv Guv” can’t seem to overcome his addiction to putting his name on the ballot. Again and again and again.
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Like Stassen, Sanford’s political career started on a promising note. His first three terms in Congress from the Palmetto Lowcountry were well received, and he knocked off incumbent Democratic Governor Jim Hodges in 2002 – followed by an easy reelection victory in 2006. There was even serious talk of Sanford – only 46 at the time – taking on then-president Barack Obama in 2012.
Everything imploded, though, following his infamous hike down the Appalachian Trail (a hike that actually never happened). His marriage kaput and his political future in shambles, Sanford stumbled through a humiliating end of his second term. But a second chance soon popped up out of the blue. Sanford pounced on the opening created by Tim Scott’s unexpected elevation to the U.S. Senate in 2013 to reclaim his old seat in the U.S. House. But the former magic was gone. Two additional lackluster terms followed, until he humiliatingly lost the GOP nomination for a third term in 2018.
That was when Sanford sank into full-blown Stassen Mode. Branded with the twin Scarlet Letters of politics (scandal and loser), he kept on running. In 2020, he decided to challenge Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination – a fool’s errand that folded in less than 30 days.
Sanford floated his name for various positions in the intervening years. Then, just this past March, he filed to seek his old Lowcountry congressional seat yet again – only to suspend that campaign on April 30 when he found out nobody in his home state was particularly interested in his candidacy.
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Now here we are in the closing days of July, and — surprise! — Sanford is a candidate yet again, this time in the August 11 GOP Senate primary to fill the seat vacated by the death of the late Lindsey Graham.
Does he have a chance? Early polling strongly suggests the answer to that question is not just “no” but “hell no.” Per the results of a survey exclusively reported by FITSNews over the weekend, Sanford is backed by just 7.1% of likely U.S. Senate primary voters – and has the highest negatives of any candidate in the field.
“Mark Sanford is like that drunk sitting at the end of the bar,” a national pollster told us. “He just doesn’t know when to say ‘when.’ There’s no possible path to victory for him in this election, and not for any other office of consequence, either. And still he keeps running time after hopeless time.”
Sanford is carrying the tradition of Harold Stassen into the 21st Century. And we likely won’t see the last of candidate Sanford after the final votes are counted next month, either. Stassen was still running for president at age 85; meaning Sanford has 19 more years of doomed campaigns to look forward to.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
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