Outgoing White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is seriously considering running for Governor of her home state of Arkansas, Politico reported Wednesday.
Sanders, who recently announced that she would be stepping down as the Trump administration’s official spokeswoman at the end of June, is reportedly “extremely serious” about running for Governor of Arkansas – a position her father held from 1996 to 2007.
Incumbent governor, Republican Asa Hutchinson, is term-limited, and will be unable to run for reelection in 2022.
Three separate sources told Politico that Sanders is strongly considering a gubernatorial bid, after quietly discussing a possible run for months now.
Sanders, 36, and her associates have been contacting Republican donors in the state – a step some of the donors say appeared to signal a planned run.
President Trump is said to have been privately urging Sanders to consider a gubernatorial bid.
After her announcement, Trump publicly encouraged Sanders to run.
“I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas - she would be fantastic.”
Arkansas, once a Democratic stronghold, has been trending Republican at the presidential level since the late 1990s.
While favorite son Bill Clinton twice carried the state by wide margins in 1992 and 1996, George W. Bush flipped Arkansas in 2000, with the state going Republican in every subsequent presidential election.
Nevertheless, Arkansas has remained competitive in local elections, with Democratic Governor Mike Beebe winning reelection in 2010 – a Republican wave year – with 64.4%, carrying every county in the state.
In 2014, however, Hutchinson defeated Democrat Mike Ross by double-digits, with Republicans taking a seven-point lead in voter registration.