Sanders, whose father, Mike Huckabee, held the post from 1996 to 2007, was the front-runner since she announced her bid last year. The governorship, owned by Republican Asa Hutchinson, is open due to term limits. With Arkansas now a deep-red state, Sanders is a solid favorite to win in November.
Former President Donald Trump endorsed his former spokeswoman the day she announced her bid for governor in January 2021.
“I love Arkansas. This is where I’ve spent 35 out of 39 years of my life. I love every little small town and diner and all the culture of each little community, and I want my kids to inherit the same Arkansas that I fell in love with as a kid,” Sanders said in April. “Going around the state with my dad and seeing all 75 counties, I want them to inherit that goodness that I think Arkansas represents.”
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During the campaign, she polled far ahead of her only Republican opponent, radio host Francis “Doc” Washburn. In November, she will face Democratic nominee Chris Jones.
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Sanders is no stranger to Arkansas’s political scene, having spent part of her childhood working on her father’s campaigns. She started national politics while working on his 2008 presidential campaign.
Sanders was press secretary for Trump’s Administration for two years, starting in July 2017. She was a boisterous defender of the Trump Administration, and at times, she had a contentious relationship with White House reporters.
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Sanders defeated former talk radio host and podcaster Doc Washburn, who mounted a long-shot bid for the GOP nomination in the primary. Nuclear engineer and ordained minister Chris Jones took an early lead among the five Democrats seeking the party’s nomination for governor Tuesday.
Sanders was endorsed by her former boss, former President Donald Trump, and shattered fundraising records since entering the race last year. Sanders, the daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, blanketed the state with ads going after Biden on issues like inflation and vowing to fight the “radical left.”
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“As governor, I will say no to Biden and the radical Left’s agenda,” Sanders says in one of her TV ads.
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Sanders, escorted by her husband and three children, cast her ballot in Little Rock shortly after polls opened Tuesday.
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“I think paying attention to the bad policies and the failures of the Biden Administration and the impact that they have on our state is critically important,” she said Tuesday morning. “If they continue to fail the way that they have and they continue to, I think, put states in a difficult position, then absolutely, we’re going to call them out and we’re going to continue to talk about that.”
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