Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Former White House press secretary

• Born: August 13, 1982
• Place of Birth: Hope, Arkansas

Education: Ouachita Baptist University

Significance: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a political campaign director and cofounder of the Little Rock, Arkansas–based political consulting firm Second Street Strategies, joined Donald Trump’s administration after working on his 2016 presidential campaign. Hired as the principal deputy press secretary, she became the White House press secretary in July 2017. One of the youngest individuals to hold the position, she was heavily scrutinized in her approach as she served during a particularly turbulent political period before stepping down in 2019. Running for the highest office in her home state, she was elected governor of Arkansas in 2022.

Background

Arkansas governor and former White House press secretary. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was born on August 13, 1982, in Hope, Arkansas, to Janet and Mike Huckabee. She has two older brothers: John Mark and David. Sanders was steeped in politics from an early age. Her father, a Baptist pastor and president of a Christian television network, entered politics in 1992 when he ran for US Senate in Arkansas. Mike Huckabee lost the election but won a 1993 special election for lieutenant governor, with reelection in 1994. In 1996, he became governor after Governor Jim Guy Tucker resigned following a felony conviction for fraud. While too young to direct these campaigns, Sanders assisted by stuffing envelopes, knocking on doors, erecting campaign signs, and tracking poll results.

Sanders attended Central High School in Little Rock. After her 2000 graduation, she studied political science at her father’s alma mater, Ouachita Baptist University, a private liberal arts university in Arkansas. There, she joined the student senate in her freshman year and was elected senate president in her junior year. While in college, she worked as the field coordinator for her father’s 2002 gubernatorial re-election campaign. She also was a member of a successful federal lawsuit filed by the Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union to allow college students to remain on the voting rolls in Clark County, Arkansas.

Political Career

Sanders worked on President George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign and in the Department of Education during his administration. In 2007 she moved to Iowa to direct her father’s campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. After Huckabee ended his campaign in March 2008, she became the director of his political action committee. In February 2010, she managed the successful US Senate campaign of Arkansas Republican congressman John Boozman. This successful venture was followed by work on former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty’s 2012 presidential campaign and Tom Cotton’s successful 2014 US Senate campaign, again in Arkansas.

In 2016, Sanders became the director of her father’s campaign to win the Republican nomination for president. After Huckabee dropped out of the race in February 2016, Donald Trump invited her to join his presidential campaign. In a personal statement, she explained her support for Trump, stating, “He will break the grip of the donor class on our government and make it accountable to working families again.” As a senior adviser, she appeared on cable news, especially targeting the support of evangelical Christians, gun-rights supporters, and military service members. When questioned about Trump’s crude comments and reported sex scandals, Sanders defended him by saying voters wanted “a commander in chief, not a pastor.” In September 2016, she moved from her adviser position to the campaign’s communications team.

After Trump won the election, Sanders joined him in the White House as the principal deputy press secretary. For the first few months of 2017, she worked behind the scenes on creating the White House’s public messaging. She held her first press briefing on May 5, 2017, during Sean Spicer’s Naval Reserve leave. As Trump equivocated over keeping Spicer, she made her way to the podium more frequently. After Spicer resigned in July 2017, she was promoted to press secretary.

As the political landscape in the United States had become especially divisive during Trump's campaign and election, and his attitude toward the press remained largely negative, Sanders, like others on the administration's staff, worked through tempestuous, tense times that included the ongoing investigation into potential foreign interference in the 2016 election, continued alleged scandals involving Trump, and a government shutdown. Though her loyalty to the administration and her vigorous, often defensive approach to the media were praised by some, others saw her as a controversial figure, questioning the accuracy of statements as well as the eventual decrease in the frequency of formal press briefings held by her. In June 2019, it was announced that she was resigning from her position as press secretary, and the following year she published the book Speaking for Myself: Faith, Freedom, and the Fight of Our Lives Inside the Trump White House.

Transitioning to local politics after a brief stint as a contributor for Fox News, by early 2021, Sanders had announced the beginning of her campaign for the governorship of Arkansas. Initially facing two other Republican candidates, she was able to raise an especially large amount of campaign funds and, following the departure of those two candidates, was able to easily surpass Doc Washburn to claim the Republican nomination in early 2022. Endorsed by both Trump and the state's outgoing governor, she then went on to beat Democrat Chris Jones in the November 2022 election, claiming around 63 percent of the votes. This was the first time in the state's history that a woman would serve as governor.

One of Sanders's first acts in office was a ban on the term Latinx in an official state government capacity. She said the decision was encouraged by Hispanic leaders in Arkansas.

Her administration was hit by scandal in 2023. Her office purchased a custom lectern for more than $19,000 using a state credit card from a political consultant and lobbyist in Virginia. Comparable lecterns cost less than half what the state paid, according to an audit. After a Freedom of Information Act request was filed for documentation of the purchase, which was not put out for bids, the Arkansas Republican Party reimbursed the governor's office for the purchase. Records revealed an executive assistant was told to attach an undated note to the invoice indicating the payment would be reimbursed. The prosecutor who revealed a subsequent audit said in 2024 that he had determined criminal charges were not warranted.

Impact

While Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s folksy presentation style was notably different from her predecessor’s, some things remained the same. As the White House press secretary, she had an adversarial relationship with the media, often refusing to answer journalists’ questions or explain inconsistencies in her statements. Sanders readily deflected reporters’ questions rather than provide clear explanations of unflattering topics. For example, when questioned about Trump’s oft-refuted claims about the size of his inaugural crowds, Sanders replied that Trump’s efforts to get the National Park Service to confirm his claims showed he is a hands-on leader. She also frequently dismissed calls for accurate reporting. After Trump sparked global outrage by retweeting three anti-Muslim videos from Britain that promoted racism and extremism, Sanders avoided questions about whether the videos were authentic, saying that in either case, the Muslim threat was real. She was additionally noted for her unconventional move away from holding regular, official media briefings in favor of allowing the president to communicate news to the public more often through social media. As governor, Sanders continued to make controversial decisions on issues such as child labor and Critical Race Theory.

Personal Life

Sanders married Bryan Sanders, a Republican campaign consultant, in 2010. They have three children: Scarlett, George, and William (Huck).

Bibliography

Cohen, Li. “Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Bans "Latinx" from Government Documents "to respect the Latino community."” CBS News, 13 Jan. 2023, www.cbsnews.com/news/arkansas-gov-sarah-huckabee-sanders-bans-latinx-from-government-documents/. Accessed 24 Apr. 2023.

DeMillo, Andrew. "Sarah Huckabee Sanders 1st Woman Elected Arkansas Governor." Associated Press, 9 Nov. 2022, apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-donald-trump-arkansas-congress-bca3dda7f9e6132bbac04b002b8c2825. Accessed 29 Dec. 2022.

Glum, Julia. “Meet Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s New Press Secretary Who Has Long Defended Bombastic Conservatives.” Newsweek, 23 July 2017, www.newsweek.com/sarah-huckabee-sanders-profile-press-secretary-640738. Accessed 29 Mar. 2018.

Grynbaum, Michael M. “Now Starring in the West Wing: Sarah Huckabee Sanders.” The New York Times, 8 Aug. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/08/08/business/now-starring-in-the-west-wing-sarah-huckabee-sanders.html. Accessed 29 Mar. 2018.

Lockwood, Frank E. “Sarah Huckabee Sanders.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 15 Oct. 2017, www.pressreader.com/usa/arkansas-democrat-gazette/20171015/282419874480809. Accessed 29 Mar. 2018.

Nakamura, David. “Meet Sean Spicer’s Deputy: White House’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders Aims to Charm, Disarm the Media.” The Washington Post, 10 May 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/05/10/meet-sean-spicers-deputy-white-houses-sarah-huckabee-sanders-aims-to-charm-disarm-the-press/. Accessed 29 Mar. 2018.

"Prosecutor Won't File Criminal Charges Over Purchase of $19K Lecturn by Arkansas Governor's Office." US News & World Report, 7 June 2024, www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2024-06-07/prosecutor-wont-file-criminal-charges-over-purchase-of-19k-lectern-by-arkansas-governors-office. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.

Relman, Eliza. “The Rise of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the New Star of the Trump Administration.” Business Insider, 30 June 2017, www.businessinsider.com/sarah-huckabee-sanders-bio-photos-white-house-press-2017-6. Accessed 29 Mar. 2018.

Rogers, Katie, and Peter Baker. "Sarah Huckabee Sanders Leaving White House at the End of the Month." The New York Times, 13 June 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/us/politics/sarah-sanders-leaving-white-house.html. Accessed 7 Oct. 2020.