Former Governor Mark Sanford has released his first advertisement in his run for Congress. Sanford is running for the 1st Congressional district, his former seat. The seat was held by now-Senator Tim Scott, who was appointed to fill Jim DeMint’s seat. In the ad, Sanford says that Washington needs to work on its fiscal problems, how he has learned about forgiveness, and briefly mentions previous mistakes. The mistakes Sanford refers to goes back to his Governorship. During 2009, then-Governor Sanford had an affair with an Argentinean woman. However, he had not told anybody where he was, and had not given power to the lieutenant governor. Later, it was said he was hiking the Appalachian Mountains, however that to was untrue.
Former Governor Sanford is running in a crowded Republican field. There are sixteen candidates for the Republican nomination, compared to only two for the Democrats. The seat does lean red, which would explain the heavy competition. However, this could be changed due to one of the Democrats. Comedian Stephen Colbert’s sister, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, is running for the seat, and she does have heavy backing.