Former two-term South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has emerged with his first television ad since announcing last month his intentions to run for Congress.
Sanford is one of 16 GOP members and two Democrats running for the seat Tim Scott vacated when he moved to fill Jim DeMint’s seat in the Senate.
Perhaps now best known for having a mistress, journalist Maria Belén Chapur, while serving as governor and for his 2009 trip to Argentina to see her, Sanford is now looking to rehabilitate his image and return to Congress.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski considered Sanford’s political ad on Monday and concluded that he’s got a good shot at winning the seat.
“The guy left with an approval rating close to 60%. How’s he doing in this race?,” Scarborough asked Time’s Mark Halperin.
“Despite his personal failings, he’s a great politician. He has great fingertip feel,” Halperin responded
In the ad, a solitary Sanford looks into the camera and directly addresses the extramarital affair that effectively had him censured by the South Carolina General Assembly due to an ethics investigation into whether or not he used state funds for his travel to Argentina.
“…I’ve experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes. But in the wake we can learn a lot about grace, a God of second chances and be the better for it. In that light, I humbly step forward…,” Sanford says in the ad.
How does Scarborough feel about Sanford’s odds of taking the 1st District?
“I would have supported him in 2012 without a second guess. I think people are far more forgiving. This is not 1950. They’re going to judge him by his life’s work,” Scarborough stated.
The Associated Press’ Seanna Adcox reports that Sanford has $1.2 million in the state campaign coffers and that he’s no stranger to the state’s 1st District.
Drew Katchen