Centrist Independent Voter endorses former Governor Mark Sanford in South Carolina’s August 11 special Republican primary for the United States Senate.
This endorsement comes with significant reservations.
The unexpected death of Senator Lindsey Graham created a compressed special election and a crowded Republican field. If no candidate receives a majority on August 11, the two leading candidates advance to an August 25 runoff. In strongly Republican South Carolina, the eventual Republican nominee will be heavily favored in November.
The principal candidates include interim Senator Darline Graham, Representatives Ralph Norman and Russell Fry, businessman Mark Lynch and Sanford.
There are legitimate reasons to consider several of them. Norman, in particular, has a genuine record as a fiscal conservative. Graham deserves credit for supporting the legislation championed by her brother to impose additional sanctions on Russia.
Sanford nevertheless offers something increasingly rare in Republican politics: a conservative record combined with demonstrated independence from Donald Trump.
Fiscal Responsibility
Sanford has spent much of his political career warning about federal spending and debt, and the issue again forms the centerpiece of his Senate campaign. He argues that rapidly growing interest costs will eventually crowd out defense, Social Security, Medicare and other government responsibilities.
He is right about the underlying problem.
Centrist Independent Voter does not agree with all of Sanford’s proposed solutions. His campaign emphasizes spending restraint far more than additional revenue. We do not believe the federal government can restore fiscal balance through cuts to domestic discretionary spending alone. Entitlement reform, additional revenue and compromises unacceptable to the ideological wings of both parties will ultimately be required.
But Sanford at least treats the national debt as a real constraint rather than something to discuss only when the other party occupies the White House.
Independence Matters
The stronger reason for endorsing Sanford is his willingness to challenge his own party.
Sanford criticized Trump while serving in Congress and lost the 2018 Republican primary after Trump intervened against him. He subsequently mounted a brief Republican presidential challenge to Trump, largely to force a debate over deficits, spending and the direction of the Republican Party.
That independence remains visible today. Sanford says he supported much of Trump’s agenda when he served in Congress but points to occasions when he opposed the administration because he believed its policies were wrong for South Carolina.
More significantly, during the current Senate campaign Sanford has defended Congress’s constitutional authority over war. Discussing the conflict with Iran, he argued that decisions about taking the country to war belong to Congress rather than simply to the president.
That distinction matters greatly to us. Senators are not elected to serve as members of a president’s political staff.
The contrast with much of the field is substantial. Darline Graham has promised strong support for Trump and has advocated eliminating the Senate filibuster to enact his election legislation. Norman, while a serious fiscal conservative, is a member of the House Freedom Caucus who has similarly called for eliminating the filibuster to advance Trump’s agenda. Fry identifies support for Trump’s agenda as one of the central themes of his campaign.
Serious Reservations
We would like clearer answers from Sanford about Ukraine, NATO and the proper American response to Russian aggression. His description of his foreign policy as more restrained than Lindsey Graham’s is reasonable as far as it goes, but “restraint” can encompass very different policies.
The Choice
Sanford may not reach the runoff. Recent polling generally places him behind Graham, Norman and Fry, although enough voters remain unsettled that the outcome is not predetermined.
But an endorsement should identify the candidate we believe would make the best senator, not merely predict who will win.
Ralph Norman shares Sanford’s concern about the debt, and Darline Graham’s support for sanctions on Russia is welcome. But neither offers Sanford’s combination of fiscal seriousness, experience and demonstrated willingness to tell a Republican president no.
At a time when Congress has too often surrendered its independent constitutional role to the executive branch, that willingness matters.
Centrist Independent Voter endorses Mark Sanford in South Carolina’s special Republican primary for the United States Senate.