About Mark

A Time in Office Built on Fiscal Courage

Mark Sanford is running for Congress because he refuses to look the other way as his four sons, and his soon to be grandchild, live in a country crippled by the very debt he spent a good part of his life fighting. After stepping away from politics and going back to business, he watched both parties in Washington treat trillion-dollar deficits like Monopoly money. What he warned about for decades is no longer theoretical – it’s here. With the national debt now exceeding $39 trillion and interest payments increasingly set to crowd out so many other priorities in people’s lives, the country is running out of time to change course.

Mark believes all of us need to do our part in working to leave the country stronger and more financially sound than we found it, and this run for Congress is Mark’s attempt to do so. He believes Washington has let us down in stacking up debts and spending, and that it’s incumbent on each one of us to rise to the mighty challenge before us in turning this around. His own efforts here have been remarkable over the years and so below is a look at his time in office.

In Congress (1995–2001): A Consistent Vote Against Government Expansion

Mark Sanford arrived in Washington with the 1994 Republican Revolution and immediately distinguished himself as one of the body’s most committed fiscal conservatives. Groups like the National Taxpayers Union and Citizens Against Government Waste rated him number one in the entire Congress in efforts to keep Washington out of your pocketbook and wallet. Even then, he warned that unchecked spending would eventually catch up to American families – a warning that’s now become reality.

  • Compiled one of the most consistent records in Washington of voting against deficit spending, government expansion, and foreign entanglements that don’t serve the American people.
    Was a loud and consistent voice against the explosion of the national debt long before it became fashionable.
  • Even voted against his own party when Republican spending bills grew the government rather than shrinking it, and efforts like these with other like minded republicans are the reason that Washington produced balanced budgets three of the years he was in Congress – balanced budgets that have happened only five times in the last 50 years.
  • Kept a self-imposed three-term pledge demonstrating that his commitment to limited government wasn’t just rhetorical.

As Governor of South Carolina (2003–2011): The Most Fiscally Conservative Governor in the Country

Mark was praised for his efforts to better people’s lives in this state. Whether in garnering jobs and record setting capital investment, operational reforms like reduced DMV wait times from 66 minutes to 15, educational, business and budget reforms, or even in record setting levels of land preservation, Mark got down into the weeds in trying to make our state government work for each one of us. But what really stood out were his efforts to stop millions in wasteful spending and his relentless push to shrink the size and cost of state government. His administration did something over his two terms that no other two term governorship in South Carolina history has done over the last 100 years. They didn’t grow state government. His team actually shrank the general fund in real terms and again that’s something not done once by governors before or after.

  • He was the first governor in America to refuse the Obama administration’s $700 million in federal stimulus funds, arguing the short-term money would create long-term spending obligations South Carolina couldn’t sustain.
  • Inherited a $1 billion dollar financial hole in coming into office. He closed it. The fights in this battle culminated in his carrying two piglets into the State Capitol in his push to extinguish the unconstitutional state deficit and rein in runaway pork-barrel spending.
  • Consistently proposed using surplus revenues to pay down state debt rather than create new programs.
  • Recognized by the Cato Institute as the most fiscally conservative governor in America.

Return to Congress (2013–2019): Three More Terms, Same Principles

When Mark returned to Congress for three additional terms representing SC-01, the fiscal situation had worsened dramatically. He continued to raise the alarm when others had moved on. By then, the consequences were no longer abstract – they were showing up in higher costs, rising debt, and a growing strain on working people being able to afford the basics that go into building a life or raising a family.

  • Maintained his top ratings from the National Taxpayers Union and Citizens Against Government Waste throughout his return to Congress.
  • Opposed budget deals from both Republican and Democratic administrations that increased the debt ceiling without corresponding spending reforms.
  • Introduced and co-sponsored legislation to impose constitutional limits on federal spending and require balanced budgets.
  • Remained a loud and consistent voice against the national debt long before it became the defining issue it is today.

For decades, Mark Sanford has been sounding the alarm on spending and debt. Now, the consequences are here and the room to fix it is evaporating before our eyes. He’s running to return to Congress because this may be one of the last real chances to get it right before the financial consequences to each one of us and our nation become irreparable. Washington won’t fix itself. It needs people willing to stand up, push back, and demand a change of course. Plenty of people in politics will make promises here, but Mark has a record that concretely shows how real his promises are here.