Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders (born August 13, 1982) is an American politician serving since 2023 as the 47th governor of Arkansas.

Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee was born on August 13, 1982, in Hope, Arkansas.

She is the youngest child and only daughter of Mike Huckabee and Janet Huckabee (née McCain), both politicians.

She has two brothers, John Mark Huckabee and David Huckabee.

After graduating from Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, Huckabee attended Ouachita Baptist University (her father's alma mater) in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

She was elected student body president of the university and was active in Republican organizations.

She was involved in her father's first campaign for the United States Senate in 1992.

Describing the unsuccessful bid in an interview for The Hill, she said: "He didn't really have much of a staff, so our family has been very engaged and very supportive of my dad. I was stuffing envelopes, I was knocking on doors, I was putting up yard signs."

Her father said of her childhood, "I always say that when most kids are seven or eight years old out jumping rope, she was sitting at the kitchen table listening to political commentators analyze poll results."

Huckabee said that he and his wife spoiled Sarah at times.

He called her "doggone tough" and "fearless" due to having grown up with two brothers.

Sanders is the daughter of Mike Huckabee, who served from 1996 to 2007 as Arkansas's 44th governor.

Sanders was a field coordinator for her father's 2002 reelection campaign for governor of Arkansas.

In 2004, she graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in political science and minoring in mass communications.

Sanders had no experience in governing for most of her career, instead serving as a political consultant and a campaign insider.

She was a regional liaison for congressional affairs at the U.S. Department of Education under President George W. Bush, and worked as a field coordinator for Bush's reelection campaign in Ohio in 2004.

Sanders is a founding partner of Second Street Strategies in Little Rock, a general consulting services provider for Republican campaigns.

She worked on national political campaigns and campaigns for federal office in Arkansas.

Sanders was also vice president of Tsamoutales Strategies.

She was national political director for her father's 2008 presidential campaign.

After her father's 2008 campaign, she worked as executive director of Huck PAC, a political action committee.

Sanders was also the national campaign manager for the ONE Campaign, a global nonprofit founded by Bono aimed at ending global poverty and preventable diseases.

Sanders was involved in the campaigns of both U.S. senators from Arkansas, managing John Boozman's 2010 campaign and serving as a senior adviser to Tom Cotton's 2014 campaign.

She was also a senior adviser to Tim Pawlenty in his 2012 presidential run.

She also served as a senior advisor on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

Sanders became the Republican nominee in the 2022 Arkansas gubernatorial election and won, defeating Democratic nominee Chris Jones.

As press secretary, Sanders was the spokesperson for the Trump administration's policy decisions, and had a confrontational relationship with the White House press corps.

When interviewed by investigators as part of the Mueller probe, she admitted making false statements in her role.

Sanders hosted fewer press conferences than any of the 13 previous White House press secretaries.

In 2016, after managing her father's presidential campaign, she signed on as a senior adviser for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and ran its communications for coalitions.

After Trump was elected, Sanders was named to the position of deputy White House press secretary in his new administration.

A member of the Republican Party, she was the 31st White House press secretary, serving under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019.

Sanders was the third woman to be White House press secretary.

On May 5, 2017, she held her first White House press briefing, standing in for Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who was serving on Naval Reserve duty.

In June 2019, Trump tweeted that Sanders would be leaving her role as press secretary.

On January 25, 2021, she announced her candidacy for governor of Arkansas; Trump endorsed her.

She secured the Republican nomination in May 2022; her general election opponents were the Democratic nominee, Chris Jones, and the Libertarian nominee, Ricky Dale Harrington.

She is the first woman to hold the office, the first woman to be governor of a state of which her father was also governor, and the youngest current governor.

Sanders has been recognized in Fortune and Time magazine's "40 under 40".

She is the author of The New York Times bestseller Speaking for Myself, is a former Fox News Channel contributor, and served on the Fulbright board.