2026-03-30T18:56:29.032Z / 美联社
时任众议员马克·桑福德于2017年3月在南卡罗来纳州希尔顿黑德岛的一场市政厅会议上发言。
肖恩·雷福德/盖蒂图片社/档案照片
南卡罗来纳州哥伦比亚市 美联社电——
曾担任南卡罗来纳州州长和国会议员的马克·桑福德，因2009年的婚外情事件政治生涯受阻，如今又一次谋求重返国会。
就在参选截止日期的数小时前，桑福德向州政府官员提交了参选文件，将参加6月9日举行的南卡罗来纳州第1选区共和党初选。他曾两度担任该选区的国会议员。
桑福德的首个政治职务就是第1选区议员。当时他几乎没有知名度，作为政坛新人通过了开放式席位的初选，首轮排名第二后在 runoff（决胜初选）中胜出。他在该职位任职六年，随后参选州长，再次在竞争激烈的初选中突围，并击败了最后一位担任该职位的民主党人。
但他的八年州长任期因阿巴拉契亚小径事件蒙上阴影，此事后来成为桑福德失踪前往阿根廷会见情人的代名词。当时他的妻子、家人和幕僚都不知道他的去向。
在顶住道德调查和辞职呼声后，桑福德坚持留任，按自己的节奏卸任公职。
2013年，桑福德赢回了自己的旧席位，在初选中击败包括他自己在内的16名候选人（原文为15 other candidates，即除他外15人，总共有16名候选人）并通过决胜初选胜出。之后他又连任两届完整任期，直到2018年在获得唐纳德·特朗普总统背书的共和党挑战者手下失利。
该席位随后在当年秋季易主民主党，几十年来首次落入民主党之手，2020年由共和党众议员南希·梅斯重新夺回。梅斯今年正在参选州长。
现年65岁的桑福德还曾在2020年短暂参选总统，以“胜算渺茫”的姿态挑战特朗普的提名，期间他围绕美国国债问题发出警告。包括桑福德前州长幕僚在内的一些人最初质疑这次参选是否认真，认为这可能是他在2018年失利后维持曝光度的手段。
桑福德在新罕布什尔州初选前夕退出了总统竞选。南卡罗来纳州最终决定不举办2020年共和党总统初选，为特朗普在该州获得提名扫清了道路。
周一，记者寻求置评的消息未立即得到桑福德的回复。正如他政治理念中一贯的主题，桑福德参选的电子邮件公告重点提及了国债问题，这位候选人表示，他认为第1选区的选民希望有一位代表“倡导华盛顿地区太久以来已然缺失的财政理智”。
卸任美国众议院议员以来，桑福德在联邦竞选账户中保留了超过130万美元资金，这些资金现在可用于本次初选——本次初选已经聚集了多名共和党和民主党候选人。桑福德在州级竞选账户中还有超过100万美元资金，这些资金现在可以转移到支持他参选的外部团体。
Mark Sanford makes a bid to return to Congress a third time from South Carolina
2026-03-30T18:56:29.032Z / Associated Press
Then-Rep. Mark Sanford speaks during a town hall meeting in Hilton Head, South Carolina, in March 2017.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images/File
Columbia, South Carolina AP—
Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina congressman and governor whose political ascendency was stalled by a 2009 affair, wants to return to Congress — again.
Just hours ahead of the deadline to do so, Sanford filed candidacy paperwork with state officials to run in the June 9 GOP primary for South Carolina’s 1st District seat, which he has held twice before.
Sanford’s first political office was in the 1st District. An outsider with almost no name recognition, he navigated a primary for the open seat, finishing second before winning the runoff. He served for six years before his outside run at governor, again pushing his way through a crowded primary, then knocking off the last Democrat to hold the office.
But his eight years were overshadowed by the Appalachian Trail, which became shorthand for Sanford’s disappearance to go to Argentina to see his lover. Sanford’s wife, family and staff didn’t know where he was.
Beating back both an ethics inquiry and calls to resign, Sanford held fast, leaving office on his own terms.
In 2013, Sanford won back his old seat, beating 15 other candidates in a primary and runoff. He won two more full terms before falling to a GOP challenger in 2018 who had President Donald Trump’s backing.
The seat would go on to flip to Democratic hands that fall for the first time in decades, won back by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace in 2020. Mace is running for governor this year.
Sanford, 65, also briefly ran for president in 2020, challenging Trump for the nomination in what he characterized as a “long shot” effort around warnings about the national debt. Some, including Sanford’s former gubernatorial staffers, initially questioned whether the effort was a serious one, positing that it might be an effort to stay relevant after the 2018 defeat.
Sanford dropped out of the contest just ahead of the New Hampshire primary. Sanford’s home state would ultimately opt not to hold a 2020 GOP presidential primary, clearing the way for Trump’s nomination in South Carolina.
Sanford did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Monday. True to the themes that have dominated his political thinking, an email release on Sanford’s candidacy focused on the national debt, with the candidate saying he felt 1st District voters wanted a representative “who is an advocate for financial sanity that has been lost in Washington for all too long.“
Since leaving the US House, Sanford has hung onto more than $1.3 million in a federal campaign account, funds that he can now use in a primary already crowded with multiple Republican and Democratic candidates. In his state campaign account, Sanford still has more than $1 million, funds that could now be transferred to an outside group supportive of his bid.
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