Meanwhile, in South Carolina, Republican Congressmember Mark Sanford lost his primary election to state Representative Katie Arrington, after he repeatedly criticized President Trump. In an unusual Election Day move, Trump attacked Sanford on Tuesday on Twitter, tweeting, “Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble. He is better off in Argentina”—the last part a reference to the 2009 scandal in which then-Governor Sanford disappeared for a few days, first saying he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, and later revealing he was having an extramarital affair in Argentina. After conceding defeat Tuesday night, Sanford said he did not regret criticizing President Trump.
Rep. Mark Sanford: “It may have cost me the election in this case, but I stand by every one of those decisions to disagree with the president, because I didn’t think it, at the end of the day, was either concurrent with the promises I made when I first ran for office or the voices of the very people of the 1st District that I represent.”