Little Rock, Arkansas – Former press secretary for former President Donald Trump, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, supported him on Monday in his quest for the Republican presidential nomination.
In a statement, Trump announced that Sanders, the governor of Arkansas since January, will be joining him at a rally in Florida on Wednesday. During her campaign, Sanders had highlighted the former president’s endorsement.
“It’s not a question between right versus left anymore. It’s normal versus crazy, and President Biden and the left are doubling down on crazy,” Sanders said in a statement. “The time has come to return to the normal policies of the Trump era which created a safer, stronger, and more prosperous America, and that’s why I am proud to endorse Donald Trump for President.”
Sanders’ support for the former president was initially reported by NBC. On Wednesday, when Trump’s competitors for the nomination square off in the third GOP presidential debate, the two will make an appearance together in Florida.
“We had great success in the White House and it’s an honor to have Sarah’s endorsement,” Trump said. “I look forward to having her at the big rally in Hialeah this Wednesday.”
Sanders had refrained from endorsing Trump or anybody else in the crowded Republican presidential field for the previous few months, despite being one of the president’s closest advisors and most ardent supporters during his time in the White House.
Sanders’ predecessor, former governor Asa Hutchinson, is among the few Republican contenders who are willing to take on Trump head-on in the GOP field. He had urged the former president to withdraw from the contest following Trump’s indictment by a New York grand jury in March. Sanders was not anticipated to support Hutchinson’s candidacy for the Republican nomination.
Following her 2019 departure from the White House to return to Arkansas, Sanders received open encouragement from Trump to run for governor. Sanders took on many of his targets during his campaign and in administration, including the media and critical race theory.
Sanders leaned heavily on culture wars topics and accused President Joe Biden of chasing “woke fantasies” in his Republican response to Biden’s State of the Union address in February. Sanders has enacted a number of policies that the state’s conservatives like, such as an overhaul of the education system that included a new school voucher scheme.
However, Sanders has also been the subject of inquiries in recent weeks regarding a $19,000 lectern her office bought, which has sparked an audit and allegations that her office improperly manipulated public documents.