Party of Trump.
Promising undying fealty to Trump in ruby red Republican primaries may well be a winning strategy, but I hope and think it’ll backfire in more competitive districts where the midterms will be won or lost.
He’s actually a pretty nice guy to talk to in person; very likable, reasonable for a conservative, especially of the SC variety. He’s polite and actually has listening skills. Went to one of his town hall meetings on health care in March '17 (packed) while I was visiting friends in the area. He’s far too Christiany for me and I don’t like Rs to begin with, but he’s not the worst the Rs can come up with. I was a little surprised at the crowd who were voicing great concern about keeping their health care even if it was called “Obama Care” and I was even more surprised that a couple of people asked about immigration in ways you would not expect at all in this area. The one I attended was in Beaufort. So I guess I’m saying…he’s probably the best of the Rs to be stuck with but maybe the clown who won will be easier to beat, but it’s South Carolina so probably another incoming nut job as usual.
late: have to admit I was floored that there are white Dems (male & female) in coastal South Carolina…few and way outnumbered of course, but I actually met some…it was like seeing exotic animals at the zoo.
Later: Just chatted with my friend in Beaufort who says people on Hilton Head wanted him out. She said: “There is a YUGE group originating over there in Hilton Head. RESIST, who was very down on Mark… mostly, from what I observed at all the town meetings, sick of Mark’s empty promises but also apparently sick of the CONservstive good ole boy approach. For quite a while Mark has been vocalizing a lot of hot air…speeches but no substance, just skirting issues. In the past week there have been huge full page ads in the paper, with ppl REPS declaring their support for Cunningham. That tells me they are sick of the Party…You might be surprised at how very MANY damned Yankees there are down here now. And I think they represent huge numbers of antiTrump, anti Sanford and anti CONservative…Joe C is a bit young but then so was Mark”. (She’s just kidding about the damn Yankees, she kind of is one but has been down there a very long time)
And that comes from someone who has known the Sanford family for decades and was one of the caretakers for Mark’s mother in her last few years.
Joe Cunningham, the Dem, is said to be a good Dem candidate because he is young, good looking and dead set on beating the good ol’ boys. Wishful thinking perhaps but one to watch. Ohhhhh, Joe is a little hottie: definitely one to watch for the eye candy alone:
a fiscally conservative purist and member of the House Freedom Caucus, had mocked Trump for his lack of a grasp of the U.S. Constitution
So basically, the New Republican Party cares about the flag and the 2nd Amendment. Everything else is subjective.
So apparently Trump dinged him for cheating on his wife. Well that is so reprehensible in a mere Congressman! Really!
I can see why Trump didn’t like him.
Not that this SOB actually deserved to be in Congress, but his successor is going to be worse.
Do the Dem’s have a viable candidate to oppose him?
Yeah and it’s a heavily gerrymandered district – pretty much guarantees another fuckin’ Nazi.
Life sucks when you are a Republican who still has some sense of morals.
I kinda figured earlier that trumps team got wind of Sanford’s low poll numbers and that’s why they came out against him 3 hours before the close of the primary. Itrump wants to make sure he backs winners.
Hard for me to feel sympathy for Sanford. I just can’t get over how hypocritical he is - as well as his Party. They try to portray themselves as high and mighty family value Christians yet they had no problem backing Sanford after he cheated on his wife and came up with that lame bogus Appalachian Trail lie. Same with Santorum. And trump too.
But I guess as long as it’s not butter emails, it’s all good.
This is South Carolina, mostly deplorables there, very few good people. I boycotted SC long time ago, I have never set a foot there and I’ve lived next door in Georgia for 15 years.
Look, I know that this site isn’t prone to the usual media tendency to fawn over “mavericks” and Third Way types, so don’t take this the wrong way. But Sanford is about the furthest thing from “idiosyncratic” and “iconoclastic.” About all that separates him from the bog-standard post-Gingrich GOP congressman from central casting is that his sex scandal took place in a South American pied-à -terre rather than a budget airport hotel.
Any chance the woman named Colbert who ran (and lost) against Sanford will rise again?
I have no sympathy. He is a member of the ironically called Freedom Caucus which has anchored Dixiecrat GOP House Obstructionism, and could not even work with the repulsive, 2 Gimlets for Lunch John Boehner when he was Speaker. He is yet another stereotypical hypocrite Bible Thumper, and made his bones in Congress by demanding Bill Clinton be impeached over adultery. His initial ascent in So Carolina politics was achieved on the wealth of his then wife.
Even in Idaho we’re a good solid 30% of the population 
All that is true but he is representative of his constituents who vote or don’t vote for him. I don’t know what you expect from this area because it’s not going to be a Dem anytime soon. He was pretty humbled by the affair ordeal, not that it changed his core beliefs, but he would have been a far better choice for our side than some new total whack job. As you can see, he stepped back from the whack a doodle team and got beat.
His family is pretty wealthy on their own and have been in SC politics for a very long time.
Late: Just changed my mind on whether a Dem can win this seat…long shot…sure…but now that I’ve looked at Joe Cunningham’s web site…hmmmm…well just maybe!
Now Sanford will have more time for hiking down the Appalachian Trail.
Perhaps we need a new euphemism: Sanford just got hiked.