Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the second of former White House press secretaries in the Trump Administration, made the transition from federal to state government when she was elected governor of Arkansas in the 2022 midterms.
Huckabee is a major name in that state: her father, Mike Huckabee, served as Arkansas governor before hosting a show on Fox News.
But according to Politico reporter Dana Liebelson, some of Sanders' local critics believe Sanders is focused on national politics to the point of neglecting Arkansas.
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In an article published on May 17, Liebelson stresses that the 41-year-old Sanders "has brought her experience in Trump's Washington back with her."
"She shows little trust in the media," Liebelson explains. "She cruises between events in a black SUV with tinted windows, accompanied by a state police detail in suits and a comms director who worked for Trump and his 2020 presidential campaign. At open-press events, she takes so few questions, Arkansas reporters are fatalistic about the idea of asking many."
Liebelson continues, "Instead, as befits a national figure with national ambitions — she's shown up on lists as a possible running mate for Trump — she reaches her audience on her terms, including on Fox News, or Instagram and Elon Musk's X, where she has over 2.3 million collective followers."
One of the Arkansas Republicans who is raising concerns about Sanders is someone her father knows well.
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Rex Nelson, who served as communications director for Mike Huckabee when he was governor, said he has observed a growing frustration with Sanders among Arkansas residents.
Nelson told Politico, "We are in a weird position of having a governor in this state who doesn't seem to have much interest in governing Arkansas."
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Read Politico's full report at this link.