Trump press secretary Sanders wins GOP Arkansas governor nod

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Sarah Sanders won the Republican nomination for governor in Arkansas on Tuesday, putting her on a clear path to lead a solidly red state where Donald Trump’s popularity has overshadowed questions about his administration’s credibility that she faced during her time as White House press secretary.

Sanders won the GOP primary for the office her dad, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, held for a decade after a race where she shattered fundraising records. Sanders bombarded the state’s airwaves with TV ads invoking the former president and going after his favorite targets, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Sanders headed into the primary virtually assured of the nomination, and she remains a heavy favorite in the general election in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat governor since 2010. Nuclear engineer and ordained minister Chris Jones won the Democratic nomination in Tuesday’s primary.

During her victory speech Tuesday, Sanders didn’t mention Trump or Biden and invoked the fatal shooting of at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school as a “stark and humbling reminder of just how precious life is.”

“Every single life has value and the most vulnerable among us should be those that we are fighting for and protecting the most,” Sanders said. “I can assure you that in my administration, that’s exactly what we will do. We will make sure that when a kid is in the womb, they’re as safe as they are in the classroom, the workplace, the nursing home, because every stage of life has value.”