Jenny Sanford, the wife of embattled South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, has endorsed GOP state Rep. Nikki Haley in the rac...

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Politico Contributor

Jenny Sanford, the wife of embattled South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, has endorsed GOP state Rep. Nikki Haley in the race to replace her term-limited husband.

South Carolina’s first lady made the announcement in a fundraising letter to Haley’s supporters.

“When I’m asked my wish for South Carolina’s future, my wish is for a leader of state government like Nikki Haley. She’s principled, conservative, tough and smart,” Sanford wrote in the letter. “I am strongly supporting Nikki Haley for governor, and I hope you will, too.”

Jenny Sanford has been a behind-the-scenes power player in the state for years, serving as an effective surrogate for her husband during his administration.

When the GOP governor first started facing calls for his resignation after his affair with an Argentine mistress was revealed in June, numerous state political sources said it was Jenny Sanford who called state legislators to get them to cool their attacks against her unfaithful husband.

South Carolina’s first lady moved out of the governor’s mansion in August, but both she and the governor have said they intend to work on their marriage.

In her statement supporting Haley, Sanford alluded to the affair that has crippled her husband’s political career and upended South Carolina’s political establishment.

The Charleston Gazette is a member of the Politico Network.

By
Politico Contributor

Jenny Sanford, the wife of embattled South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, has endorsed GOP state Rep. Nikki Haley in the race to replace her term-limited husband.

South Carolina’s first lady made the announcement in a fundraising letter to Haley’s supporters.

“When I’m asked my wish for South Carolina’s future, my wish is for a leader of state government like Nikki Haley. She’s principled, conservative, tough and smart,” Sanford wrote in the letter. “I am strongly supporting Nikki Haley for governor, and I hope you will, too.”

Jenny Sanford has been a behind-the-scenes power player in the state for years, serving as an effective surrogate for her husband during his administration.

When the GOP governor first started facing calls for his resignation after his affair with an Argentine mistress was revealed in June, numerous state political sources said it was Jenny Sanford who called state legislators to get them to cool their attacks against her unfaithful husband.

South Carolina’s first lady moved out of the governor’s mansion in August, but both she and the governor have said they intend to work on their marriage.

In her statement supporting Haley, Sanford alluded to the affair that has crippled her husband’s political career and upended South Carolina’s political establishment.

“We all know this past year has been very difficult for our state on many levels. It’s been hard for me and my family, too. But our family is resilient, and we will be fine. And the people of our state are resilient, too. I have no doubt South Carolina will get back on its feet,” she wrote. “Nikki Haley would be exactly the kind of refreshing, inspiring, energetic, determined governor South Carolina needs to effectively lead our state to a brighter future.”

Jenny Sanford has grown more popular in the state since her husband’s affair, prompting rumors that she was contemplating a gubernatorial run of her own.

Haley, the first Indian-American Republican elected to a state Legislature, with a reform-minded record, was a favorite of the governor and has caught the attention of national Republican leaders looking for fresh faces.

But Haley, 37, has struggled to raise funds and has gained little traction against the three more established Republican gubernatorial candidates: Rep. Gresham Barrett, Attorney General Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer.

In voicing her support for Haley, Jenny Sanford used many of the same points that her husband made when he told POLITICO before his scandal that Haley “has consistently stood up for taxpayers on a whole host of different issues, and she has stood up for transparency in showing how South Carolina really works.”

In her endorsement, Jenny Sanford said Haley “has consistently stood up for taxpayers” and “has shown uncommon courage in her willingness to take on the political bosses and not back down from the fight.”

In an e-mail to POLITICO, Haley's communications director, Tim Pearson, said that “Jenny Sanford is a woman of incredible strength and grace who has demonstrated time and time again her deep love of South Carolina.”

“That she believes strongly enough in Nikki and the things this campaign is about — protecting the taxpayers, bringing accountability to our broken government and making South Carolina a competitive place to live and work — to weigh in on the race is something we are all very proud of,” he said.