Mark Sanford: Former South Carolina governor to challenge Trump in Republican primary

‘I think that as the Republican Party, we have lost our way’

Mark Sanford, a former governor and congressman, will run against Donald Trump in the Republican primary.

“I am here to tell you now that I am going to get in,” Mr Sanford said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. He said he would launch a formal campaign this week.

“I think we need to have a conversation on what it means to be a Republican,” Mr Sanford continued. “I think that as the Republican Party, we have lost our way.”

Mr Sanford has been a vocal critic of Mr Trump since the 2016 presidential election. He was previously the governor of South Carolina, where he lost his seat in congress in the 2018 midterm election.

Following that loss, he wrote an ​op-ed for The New York Times urging his party to “take a step back from President Trump’s approach to politics.”

He joins former congressman Joe Walsh and former governor Bill Weld as long-shot primary candidates running against the president.

Mr Trump’s approval ratings among Republicans are consistently high, and challenges to his nomination within the party are unlikely to move forward. Still, in-party criticism has been consistent, if ultimately ineffective.