Sarah Huckabee Sanders running for governor of Arkansas: What to know

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Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tells ‘Fox & Friends’ President Trump was never praised for empowering women and working moms in his administration.

Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made it official on Monday: she’s running for governor of Arkansas in 2022.

While most Americans know Sanders from her time in President Trump's White House, back home in Arkansas she’s also long been well known for her political pedigree.

Sanders is the daughter of former longtime Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who later grabbed national attention as a two-time Republican presidential candidate.

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"My dad always said the real test of a leader is not the way you handle the issues you know are coming, it's rising to the moment in a crisis you could never plan for," Sanders said in a video announcing her candidacy. "I've been tested under fire."

Here are five things to know about Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Sanders and Clinton share the same birthplace

Huckabee Sanders was born on Aug. 13, 1982, in Hope, Arkansas. That’s the same town where former President Bill Clinton was born in 1946. Sanders was the youngest of three children and only daughter to Mike and Janet Huckabee, the former first lady of Arkansas.

An early start in politics

Sanders began political career as a child, helping her father on his unsuccessful 1922 GOP Senate challenge against Democratic incumbent Dale Bumpers.

"I was stuffing envelopes, I was knocking on doors, I was putting up yard signs. I'm absolutely my dad's biggest fan, and anything he wanted to do, I wanted to be a part of," Sanders said in a 2010 interview as she looked back at her start in politics.

Eight years later, Sanders attended her father's alma mater Ouachita Baptist University, in Arkansas. The 2004 graduate was active in student government and Republican organizations.

She’s a presidential and Senate campaign veteran

Sanders worked on her father’s 2008 and 2016 presidential campaigns, as well as President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign, and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s 2012 presidential campaign.

At age 27, she steered John Boozman’s successful bid for Senate in Arkansas, serving as campaign manager. Four years later, she advised then-Rep. Tom Cotton of Arkansas on his successful campaign for the Senate.

From Trump’s campaign to the White House

Sanders served as campaign manager of her father’s unsuccessful 2016  GOP presidential nomination bid. After he father dropped out of the race, she joined Donald Trump’s campaign, working as a senior adviser.

She joined the Trump administration the next year as a deputy White House press secretary. In July of 2017, she became White House press secretary, succeeding Sean Spicer, who resigned. She served until July of 2019 before resigning.

Sanders then joined the Fox News Channel as a paid, on-air contributor in September 2019. A Fox News Media spokesperson confirmed on Sunday that her contributor agreement with the network has been terminated.

Found her husband on the campaign trail

Sanders met her future husband, Republican political consultant Bryan Sanders, when they were both working on her father’s 2008 presidential campaign. They married in 2010 and have three children.