By
Max Brantley
On
6:54 am

The daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee made it official this morning on social media, as expected. And you’ll see she’s wrapping herself in her impeached former boss with an opening shot of him on Air Force One and a trip to visit troops.

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She joins Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge as announced Republican candidates. No Democrats have emerged. Republican Sen. Jim Hendren is thinking about making the race as is former Republican House Speaker Davy Carter, though the latter perhaps not as a Republican.

The Washington Post doesn’t give a glowing review of her time as Trump spokesperson.

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The Sanders bio from her website:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders served as White House Press Secretary for President Donald J. Trump from 2017 to 2019. A trusted confidant of the President, Sarah advised him on everything from press and communications strategy to personnel and policy. For two and a half years, Sarah worked closely with the president, battling with the media, working with lawmakers and CEOs, and accompanying the president on every foreign trip, including dozens of meetings with foreign leaders. Sarah is only the third woman – and the very first mom – to ever hold the job of White House Press Secretary.

Upon her departure from the administration, President Trump described Sarah as “irreplaceable,” a “warrior” and “very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job.”

Sarah joined the Trump campaign as a senior advisor in February 2016 during the Republican primary, and continued in that role through the President’s historic defeat of Hillary Clinton.

Sarah has previously worked in leadership roles for U.S. Senators, Governors, and presidential campaigns. In Arkansas, Sarah was a senior advisor to Senator Tom Cotton in 2014 when he defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Pryor, and was campaign manager for Senator John Boozman in 2010 when he defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln. In 2007 and 2008, Sarah helped lead her father, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, to victory in the Iowa Caucuses and seven other states as his national political director. Sarah served in the Department of Education during President George W. Bush‘s administration, and was campaign manager of the ONE campaign, a global non-profit founded by U2’s Bono to take action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa.

Sarah has been recognized in Fortune and TIME Magazine “40 under 40.” She is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Speaking for Myself,” a former Fox News contributor, and serves on the Fulbright board.

Sarah grew up in Pine Bluff and Texarkana, and is a proud graduate of Little Rock Central High and Ouachita Baptist University. She lives in Little Rock with her husband, Bryan, their children Scarlett, Huck, and George, and their golden retriever, Traveler.

She invoked the “radical left” repeatedly in the video.

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“We’ve seen violence in our streets, at a congressional baseball practice and at our Capitol. The radical left’s solution is to impose government control and censorship from the top down, but their socialism and cancel culture will not heal America. It will only further divide and destroy us.”

Her targeting of the “radical left” takes straw man to a whole new level in one-party, pro-Trump Arkansas. Unless she plans a removal campaign for residents of certain precincts in Hillcrest and Fayetteville.

Re Hendren:

The Democratic Party issued a statement:

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“Republican candidates continue their race to the bottom, using fear mongering and hateful rhetoric to try and scare Arkansans. Democrats believe Arkansas deserves better. Arkansas deserves candidates that talk about investing in every community across this state, who understand that arguing about Washington politics doesn’t put food on the table — jobs and economic opportunity do. Candidates need to understand that our children shouldn’t have to leave our state to succeed. Leadership is about bringing people together not seeking to divide us. This is Arkansas. We are better and we deserve better.,” said D.P.A. Chairman Michael John Gray.

 
“A competitive race against the worst of Arkansas will not happen just because we wish it so. It will take aggressive organizing and collaboration among many groups across the state so that Arkansas can be that better place we know it is. The Democratic Party of Arkansas and its candidates look forward to the challenge.”
If Democrats don’t have a competitive primary, many Democrats may vote in a Republican primary for the first time in 2022. Arkansas’s open primary law makes that easy to do, if spiritually difficult.
FWIW: The pro forma responses from Rutledge and Griffin.