'It's a ways away': Huckabee says Sarah Sanders in no rush to run for Arkansas governor
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee confirmed Friday that his daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, may make a run for his old job — but stressed that there’s no rush for the outgoing White House press secretary to launch a bid for the top office in Little Rock.
“The race isn’t until 2022, so for all the people who are thinking that this is imminent, it isn't,” Huckabee told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt during an interview on his show Friday morning.
“It's a ways away. So the answer is: she might, but she might not,” Huckabee said. “She may decide that she doesn’t want to jump in that sausage grinder.”
Huckabee, who served as Arkansas governor from 1996-2007 and campaigned for the presidency in 2008 and 2016, said he discussed his daughter’s West Wing tenure and asked about her “future plans” in an interview with Sanders set to air Saturday on Trinity Broadcasting Network.
“She doesn’t know. I mean, that’s the honest answer,” Huckabee said Friday. “The truth is, she has not had time to come up for air in the past three years. So she’s going to take some time to get her kids enrolled in school in Arkansas for the fall, go to vacation, just have some downtime — which is something she hasn't done. And, you know, then she’ll start exploring."
President Donald Trump announced on Twitter last week that Sanders would be departing the White House at the end of the month, after having served as his chief spokesperson since July 2017.
“She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas — she would be fantastic,” the president wrote online.
Three people who have spoken to Sanders previously told POLITICO she is considering a run, and multiple people close to Sanders told POLITICO about a poll commissioned by her allies that showed Sanders beating her potential rival candidates in the gubernatorial race. Those people refused to share any details of the poll.
Sanders defended Trump through some of the most politically tumultuous moments of his administration amid growing concerns over her credibility, and oversaw the end of the traditional daily White House news briefing. She has been widely criticized for spreading falsehoods and berating the media during her tenure as press secretary.
Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report revealed that Sanders lied to reporters when she claimed following Trump’s May 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey that “countless” rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey. Mueller, in his report, said Sanders "acknowledged to investigators that her comments were not founded on anything.”
Andrew Restuccia contributed to this report.