Sarah Huckabee Sanders declines to rule out 2028 presidential run

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to rule out a future presidential run Sunday, telling CNN she loves governing and intends to concentrate on her state "for right now."

The Republican won reelection in early November to a second four-year term, her last because Arkansas term limits prevent her from seeking the governorship again. On CNN's "State of the Union," host Dana Bash asked whether Sanders would commit to completing that term, which would run past the 2028 presidential election.

"Well, at that point I'm termed out anyway unless they change the rules," Sanders joked.

"My max out is in four years, they're going to kick me out whether I like it or not," she said. "But ultimately the simple answer is I like what I'm doing."

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016 but did not win it. Sanders helped run his 2008 campaign operation, and he won the Iowa caucuses that year. He is now U.S. ambassador to Israel.

"He won the Iowa caucuses, by the way. Would your dad like to see you launch your own bid for the White House?" Bash asked.

"I don't know," Sanders said, laughing. "Given the fact that he knows what that means, I'm not sure that he would wish that on me in some cases, but he ran, as you know, a — just a bootstrap campaign in 2008, came from behind — a victory that changed the course of his adult life after that in a significant way and gave him a major platform to talk about issues he cared about."

"But what about you?" Bash asked.

"For me, personally, I just got reelected as the Governor of Arkansas. I love what I'm doing, and I look forward to holding this job for the next four years," Sanders said.

Sanders said she plans to "do as best as I can lifting up the people of my state, moving my state forward."

It was not immediately known whether Sanders would resign as governor if she ran in 2028.

Donors encourage Sanders

Supporters and donors have urged Sanders to enter the 2028 presidential race, ABC News reported, citing multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

"Governor Sanders looks forward to serving the people of Arkansas for the next four years," her communications director, Sam Dubke, told ABC News this month when asked about that outreach.

Other Republicans are considering their own prospects. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a retiring two-term Republican, is weighing a presidential campaign after leaving office in January, ABC News reported, citing a source familiar with his thinking. The source said donors and Republican officials have encouraged Kemp to run.

Outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is keeping open the possibility of another presidential campaign, according to two people familiar with his thinking cited by ABC News.

Those deliberations follow Republican losses in the 2026 midterms, which Democrats swept. This month, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has not ruled out running for president in 2028, called his party's performance a "Watergate-level repudiation."

Sanders' path to the governor's office

Sanders became Arkansas' first woman elected governor in 2022. She previously served as White House press secretary during President Donald Trump's first term, holding the job from July 2017 to June 2019 after serving as deputy press secretary. She was a senior adviser to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

In 2023, a few months after winning the governor's race, Sanders delivered the Republican response to then-President Joe Biden's State of the Union address.

She recently released a memoir, "Unapologetic: Clarity and Conviction in a World Gone Crazy."