Press secretary Sarah Sanders seems to be in an enviable position as she leaves the White House for a possible run for governor in her home state of Arkansas. She has the tacit endorsement of a president popular in the state and political connections that go back to her dad Mike Huckabee's more than 10 years as governor.
Since her departure was announced this month, Sanders hasn't ruled out the possibility of a run for public office when she returns to Arkansas later this summer. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who was reelected last year, is barred by term limits from running again in 2022.
Other White House officials who left have remained in the public eye by writing books and hitting the lecture circuit, but none has made a high-profile run for office. A Sanders candidacy could test whether President Donald Trump and questions about his administration's credibility are political liabilities, even in solidly Republican states.
Trump has openly teased the prospect of Sanders running.
"I have a feeling she's going to be running for a certain gubernatorial position," Trump said at a rally in Florida kicking off his reelection campaign last week. "She'd be tough, right?"
Sanders became a household name over the past two years through her sparring with reporters who aggressively questioned her about any number of controversies involving the president. She was regularly skewered by late night hosts and "Saturday Night Live," which portrayed her as a dishonest loyalist to Trump with an exaggerated southern drawl.
Sanders was already a known quantity in Arkansas before her time in Washington. She appeared in ads for her father's campaign for governor, managed Sen. John Boozman's 2010 election and worked as an adviser to Sen. Tom Cotton's in 2014.
"I've told Sarah, it used to be you were known by your dad," said former state Rep. Jonathan Barnett, a member of the Republican National Committee for the state and a longtime friend of the Huckabees. "Now your dad is known by you."
Political observers in Arkansas see little downside in Sanders' connections to Trump, who easily won the state in 2016 and whose approval rating here remains above his national figures. Once a reliably Democratic state, Arkansas is now dominated by Republicans. The GOP controls both chambers of the legislature, all partisan statewide offices and every seat in its congressional delegation.
"In terms of a liftoff, in terms of launch, in terms of a game plan, she got major support from a president that's extremely popular in Arkansas," said Skip Rutherford, dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, located next to the former president's library. "Among the base — and that base for President Trump seems to be growing in Arkansas — her nature to take on the national media is a plus for her politically right now."
But three years is a long time and a presidential election away. There's no guarantee Trump will remain as popular in Arkansas, or even be in office, when and if Sanders makes a bid.
"Three years from now, if the perceptions of Trump have gone south and those are tied to scandals and untruths, then the fact she was the voice of some of that could be damaging," said Jay Barth, a political science professor at Hendrix College. Yet, "even if he's no longer president, that doesn't mean he still wouldn't be beloved by a lot of Republican voters."
Democrats are already relishing the idea of a Sanders run, saying it would bring national money and attention to a race that may otherwise be written off.
Republicans caution that it's not a given Sanders would win the GOP's nomination. Her potential rivals are some of the party's top figures who have built up their own network of supporters and donors. Among them are Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, a former congressman who worked in the George W. Bush White House, and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who worked for the Republican National Committee. Another potential candidate is state Senate President Jim Hendren, who is also Hutchinson's nephew.
Bill Vickery, a political strategist in the state, said he wouldn't be surprised to see just as much outside money come into the state supporting Sanders' rivals in a GOP primary.
"She will have 10 times the amount of money needed to win," he said. "That same amount will be spent to defeat her. We will be awash in money."
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. resolution sponsored by the United States and Japan calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space, calling it “a dirty spectacle” that cherry picks weapons of mass destruction from all other weapons that should also be banned.
The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13 in favor, Russia opposed and China abstaining.
The resolution would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as banned under a 1967 international treaty that included the U.S. and Russia, and to agree to the need to verify compliance.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.
“Today’s veto begs the question: Why? Why, if you are following the rules, would you not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you possibly be hiding,” she asked. “It’s baffling. And it’s a shame.”
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia dismissed the resolution as “absolutely absurd and politicized,” and said it didn’t go far enough in banning all types of weapons in space.
Russia and China proposed an amendment to the U.S.-Japan draft that would call on all countries, especially those with major space capabilities, “to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space, and the threat of use of force in outer spaces.”
The vote was 7 countries in favor, 7 against, and one abstention and the amendment was defeated because it failed to get the minimum 9 “yes” votes required for adoption.
The U.S. opposed the amendment, and after the vote Nebenzia addressed the U.S. ambassador saying: “We want a ban on the placement of weapons of any kind in outer space, not just WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). But you don’t want that. And let me ask you that very same question. Why?”
He said much of the U.S. and Japan’s actions become clear “if we recall that the U.S. and their allies announced some time ago plans to place weapons … in outer space.”
Nebenzia accused the U.S. of blocking a Russian-Chinese proposal since 2008 for a treaty against putting weapons in outer space.
Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of undermining global treaties to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, irresponsibly invoking “dangerous nuclear rhetoric,” walking away from several of its arms control obligations, and refusing to engage “in substantive discussions around arms control or risk reduction.”
She called Wednesday’s vote “a real missed opportunity to rebuild much-needed trust in existing arms control obligations.”
Thomas-Greenfield’s announcement of the resolution on March 18 followed White House confirmation in February that Russia has obtained a “troubling” anti-satellite weapon capability, although such a weapon is not operational yet.
Putin declared later that Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space, claiming that the country has only developed space capabilities similar to those of the U.S.
Thomas-Greenfield said before the vote that the world is just beginning to understand “the catastrophic ramifications of a nuclear explosion in space.”
It could destroy “thousands of satellites operated by countries and companies around the world — and wipe out the vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial, and national security services we all depend on,” she said.
The defeated draft resolution said “the prevention of an arms race in outer space would avert a grave danger for international peace and security.” It would have urged all countries carrying out activities in exploring and using outer space to comply with international law and the U.N. Charter.
The draft would have affirmed that countries that ratified the 1967 Outer Space Treaty must comply with their obligations not to put in orbit around the Earth “any objects” with weapons of mass destruction, or install them “on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space.”
The treaty, ratified by some 114 countries, including the U.S. and Russia, prohibits the deployment of “nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction” in orbit or the stationing of “weapons in outer space in any other manner.”
The draft resolution emphasized “the necessity of further measures, including political commitments and legally binding instruments, with appropriate and effective provisions for verification, to prevent an arms race in outer space in all its aspects.”
It reiterated that the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, based in Geneva, has the primary responsibility to negotiate agreements on preventing an arms race in outer space.
The 65-nation body has achieved few results and has largely devolved into a venue for countries to voice criticism of others’ weapons programs or defend their own. The draft resolution would have urged the conference “to adopt and implement a balanced and comprehensive program of work.”
At the March council meeting where the U.S.-Japan initiative was launched, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “geopolitical tensions and mistrust have escalated the risk of nuclear warfare to its highest point in decades.”
He said the movie “Oppenheimer” about Robert Oppenheimer, who directed the U.S. project during World War II that developed the atomic bomb, “brought the harsh reality of nuclear doomsday to vivid life for millions around the world.”
“Humanity cannot survive a sequel to Oppenheimer,” the U.N. chief said.
United States Ambassador and Representative to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield addresses members of the U.N. Security Council before voting during a meeting on Non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
FILE - U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Tokyo. The U.N. Security Council is set to vote Wednesday, April 24, 2024, on a resolution announced by Thomas-Greenfield, calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space. It is likely to be vetoed by Russia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)
