Mark Sanford says he’s not a career politician, as any student of Thomas Jefferson would know.
The former South Carolina governor, who left the governor’s mansion at the end of his term in January 2011, is running for his old seat in Congress in his first return to elective politics since the end of his gubernatorial career was mired in scandal when it was revealed he was having an affair with a woman in Argentina, who is now his fiancée.
With near-universal name recognition in the district and a large campaign fund, Sanford is the front-runner in the 16-person Republican primary field to replace former Republican Rep. Tim Scott, who was appointed to the Senate when former Republican Sen. Jim DeMint resigned his seat to become president of the Heritage foundation.
With front-runner status comes the privilege of being the punching bag of every other candidate in the race. His opponents have criticized his personal transgressions, his disappearance as governor that led to the discovery of his infidelity and the state’s financial issues when he was in the governor’s mansion. They say that this run for office is a violation of the term-limits pledge he made when he first ran for the congressional seat in 1994.
But perhaps the most vehement attack on the former governor has been that he is a career politician, a dirty slur in today’s political scene.
Sanford rejects the idea that having spent 14 of the past 18 years in some kind of elected federal office makes him a “career politician.” Rather, in a phone interview with The Daily Caller, he likened his participation in politics to that of Thomas Jefferson.
“You know, I went to the University of Virginia, and everybody becomes a big fan of Thomas Jefferson there. He spent 34 years of his life in and out of public life. I don’t think anybody would describe Thomas Jefferson as a career politician,” Sanford said.
“What they would describe him as is a guy who cared deeply about his country and at different points along the way was involved, and at different points along the way was back at his farm, or his academic village, or other places.”
The former governor also takes issue with the idea that his current run for Congress violates the pledge he made when he first ran for Congress to serve only three-terms in the House, which he did from 1995 to 2001.
“I did exactly what I promised,” he said, sounding somewhat indignant. “I mean I said, ‘If I get elected, I will not sit more than three terms, and I will go home.’ And I did just that.”
“I think that the idea that term limits ultimately are about is making sure that one, one isn’t perpetuating a career at the expense of the taxpayer and voting to sustain that career,” he continued. “And two, that one doesn’t calcify around a single position because there are certain advantages to incumbency and holding office in that position or frankly in running for another. And on both of those levels I’ve stepped away.”
Sanford argued that he was actually pursuing his political ambitions in a more honest and ethical way than some of his opponents.
“I think I’ve gone the extra mile in terms of in fact never running for another office from another office,” Sanford said, taking a swipe at several of his competitors who are running for the seat while still serving in the state legislature.
“And I would also say it’s important to look at one’s voting record,” he said, enumerating some of the unpopular positions he took over his years. “So, you know, if I was ever about perpetuating my time in politics, then I must have had a death wish toward that end.”
The part of Sanford’s record that has received the most media scrutiny, of course, is not his votes but rather his marital infidelity. Sex scandals are generally seen as problematic for a political career, but Sanford says having his personal transgressions out in the open, which his opponents called everything from a “distraction” to an “embarrassment” in interviews with TheDC, has actually been a boon.
“You end up with rather amazing conversations where people say, you know, ‘You live long enough and you’re gonna fail at something, you failed, but guess what, let me tell you a story of something that I failed on,'” he said.
“And so you end up with some rather remarkable conversations of that kind alone, but I think, more significantly, and more germane, is the fact that people say, ‘you know, but, in some ways you may be the better person for it.'”
Asked why he wants to go back to Washington to serve in one of the least popular Congresses in history, Sanford sounded confused why such a question even needed to be asked.
“The chance to make a difference in something I’ve cared about for 20 years,” he said, as if this is should be obvious to anyone. “I mean, you don’t invest that period of your life if you don’t deeply care.”
Going back, he said, “a lot of the convictions would be the same” as the first time, when he was a self-described “young freshman firebrand.” He still wants to cut government spending and “get our financial house in order,” because he believes that “there would be really horrible consequences in terms of our way of life and the opportunity that is historically provided” if that does not happen.
But he would return with a new “life-seasonedness.”
“If there’s anything that’s probably needed in Washington it’s a bit more humility in our respective approaches — from both party’s standpoints,” he said, shortly after comparing himself to Thomas Jefferson. “And I don’t think you can go through what I went through without a fair bit of reflection on that side.”
“You can be right in your perspective but if you’re wrong in your tone, you’re still wrong in the world of politics because the other person isn’t hearing you,” he continued.
“And so to be able to sit down and say, ‘I very strong believe this, I know why I believe this, but I don’t think that I’m by any stretch of imagination the final arbiter of truth and knowledge and therefore let me better understand where you’re coming from,’ is something that I think is pretty important to the larger debate that at times is missing in Washington, D.C.,” he said.
The Republican primary is set for Tuesday, March 19. The expected run-off, which will take place if no one candidate receives a majority of the votes, will be held on April 2. The winner of that run-off will likely face Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert and the likely Democratic nominee, in the May 7 election.