Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is set to endorse Donald Trump’s presidential bid on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Sanders will make her announcement at Trump’s rally near Miami. Trump is skipping the debate that night — which is being hosted by NBC News — and holding a counterprogramming event, as he did with the first two debates.
The Trump campaign declined to comment. A spokesperson for Sanders did not reply.
Sanders, 41, is seen as a rising star in the Republican Party after getting elected governor in 2022. She is the first woman to serve as governor of Arkansas and the youngest governor in the country. Her father served in the same job from 1996-2007.
By choosing Trump, Sanders is bucking Asa Hutchinson, who preceded her as governor of Arkansas. He has run a campaign that has been deeply critical of Trump and is trailing the rest of the major GOP presidential candidates.
Sanders served as Trump’s White House press secretary from 2017 to 2019, and she delivered the GOP response to President Joe Biden’s most recent State of the Union speech.
A Trumpworld adviser said the campaign brain trust at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort was frustrated that Sanders had not endorsed earlier.
“MAL has been furious with her for months for going this long without endorsing,” the adviser said. “There’s always a way back in Trump world, but I’m not sure if President Trump will ever view her the same again.”
The high-profile gubernatorial endorsement comes just days after NBC News reported that Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds would be endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Jonathan Allen, Amanda Terkel and Jillian Frankel contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
