Former governor Mark Sanford drops out of South Carolina congressional race

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — The former governor of South Carolina has announced that he will be dropping out of the race for the state’s 1st Congressional District.

Sanford says he will step aside in order to launch a national nonprofit and grassroots movement “focused on confronting the country’s rising debt, persistent deficits, and unsustainable government spending.”

Sanford served as governor from 2003 to 2011 and represented the state’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2013 to 2019.

In a statement he made Thursday morning, Sanford said the decision reflects a belief that “the scale of America’s financial challenges requires sustained, nonpartisan engagement beyond the confines of a single election cycle.”

The soon-to-be-named organization will operate as a nonpartisan 501(c)(3), he said, and focus on building a nationwide grassroots network aimed at changing our country’s current financial trajectory.