Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford isn’t hiding from the scandal that consumed the end of his second term by mentioning his ‘past mistakes’ in the first television ad released for his new congressional campaign.
Sanford opens the 30-second advertisement talking about how he fought to cut government spending and reduce debt.
He then switches to the scandal when he tried to go on a secret trip to visit his mistress in Argentina and told his staff to claim that he was on a hiking trip along the Appalachian Trail.
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Putting on a smile: Former governor Mark Sanford is now running for Congress and he released his first campaign ad, which referenced the affair that he had with an Argentinean woman that caused his term to end
The 2009 trip and its aftermath led to his divorce and removal from office.
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‘More recently, I've experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes,’ Sanford said in the ad.
Women in his life: Sanford is now engaged to María Belén Chapur (left) his former mistress, and his ex-wife Jenny Sanford (right) filed for divorce following the affair
Mistakes: In the TV spot, Sanford said that second chances give people the ability to know God's grace
‘But in their wake, we can learn a lot about grace, a God of second chances and be the better for it. In that light, I humbly step forward and ask for your help in changing Washington.’
Sanford and the woman he went to see in Argentina and later called his ‘soul mate,’ Maria Belen Chapur, became engaged last summer.
Sanford's campaign said the ad began running on cable channels in the coastal 1st District on Monday, and will run on broadcast channels in the district starting next week.
Sanford is one of 16 candidates vying for the Republican nomination for the seat left open when Tim Scott was appointed to the U.S. Senate.
Left behind: Jenny Sanford moved herself and her four sons- pictured here years before the 2009 affair- out of the governor's mansion shortly after the scandal
So far advertisements from the other candidates such as Teddy Turner, the son of media magnate Ted Turner, state Representative Chip Limehouse, state Senator Larry Grooms, Charleston County School Board member Elizabeth Moffly and former Charleston County councilman Curtis Bostic have largely been biographical and haven't made mention of Sanford who served three terms in a differently-drawn 1st District before he was elected governor in 2002.
Only two candidates are running for the Democratic nomination. Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, the sister of comedian and Charleston native Stephen Colbert, is taking on perennial candidate Ben Frazier.
The party primaries are March 19 with runoffs scheduled for April 2. The special election is set for May 7.