Update (May 8): Voters resurrected former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford's political career, giving him 54 percent of the vote in last night's special election for the 1st Congressional District House seat.

In his victory speech, Sanford described himself as a Lazarus figure, saying, "I am an imperfect man, saved by God's grace."

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Former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford is touting the "God of second chances" as the evangelical politician seeks to restore his career.

"I've experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes. But in their wake we can learn a lot about grace, a God of second chances and be the better for it," says Sanford in his first television ad as he runs for the same South Carolina congressional seat that he held from 1995 to 2001.

While governor, Sanford unexpectedly disappeared for days before it was revealed that the married politician was visiting a lover in Argentina. He is now engaged to Maria Belen Chapur, but the scandal–including the use of state ...

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