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.”
––-
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 funds (which Sanford later repaid) to visit Chapur–led to his divorce and eventual exit from politics.
CT’s politics blog noted when Sanford admitted the affair and asked for forgiveness in 2009, as well as how conservative evangelicals responded by telling Sanford to get his house in order. “God’s law indeed is there to protect you from yourself, and there are consequences if you breach that,” he said in a press conference at the time.
The Sanford scandal, along with a concurrent revealed affair by evangelical Nevada senator John Ensign, shed light on accountability groups for Christian politicians in D.C. The C Street boarding house run by the Fellowship drew many controversial headlines for its involvement; CT ran an explanation (hint: it’s no theocratic cabal) by two current members, as well as founder Doug Coe’s original vision for the Fellowship.
CT also noted when Jenny Sanford extended forgiveness to her husband, and explored the question of whether wives should stand besides unfaithful Christian politician husbands.
