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Disgraced Former Governor Wins Congressional Primary


Disgraced former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford won a Republican Party primary Tuesday to become a candidate for a vacant seat in the U.S. congress.

While Sanford was in his second term as governor in 2009, he vanished for a week, saying he was hiking in the Appalachian Mountains. He was actually in Argentina with his mistress.

After his affair became public, Sanford's wife divorced him, he paid more than $70,000 in ethics fines, and he was censured by the state legislature, but served out the remainder of his term as governor.

In the special election next month he faces Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of prominent comedian and political satirist Stephen Colbert.



Sanford, who held the congressional seat for three terms before becoming governor, said the Tuesday runoff would give a good indication whether voters have moved past his personal indiscretions.
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