White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been on the job for just under a year now, taking over for embattled predecessor Sean Spicer last July after Spicer resigned, and she’s had no easy go of it.
Sanders has been the public face of the administration in the daily news briefings, fending off reporters’ pointed questions and presenting a calm face during intense questioning over tumultuous issues, scandals and steady staff turnover in the Trump White House. She’s spent countless intense hours now behind the briefing room podium in the glare of an international spotlight, remaining stoic and calm while repeatedly explaining and defending her boss and his remarks, many of them on Twitter, to persistent journalists.
Here are eight things to know about Sarah Huckabee Sanders:
-She was was born in Hope, Arkansas, in 1982, to pastor-turned-state Gov. Mike Huckabee and Janet Huckabee. She’s the youngest of three children and the only girl, according to her biography.
-She was no stranger to politics, even before joining the Trump team. Her father, Mike Huckabee, is not only a former Arkansas governor, but also a two-time Republican presidential hopeful. Sanders started her career in politics when she served as a field coordinator during his re-election campaign for governor in 2002, according to Biographytree.com. She also served at the Department of Education as a regional liaison and as a field director in Ohio for former President George W. Bush during his 2004 presidential campaign.
-When she was 25, Sanders was the national political director for her father’s 2008 presidential campaign and helped him win an upset victory in the Iowa caucuses. After he bowed out of the race, she became the director of Huck PAC, a political action committee that promotes conservative principles and helps elect conservative candidates to office.
-When Sanders became White House press secretary, she was only the third woman to hold that job, after Dana Perrino in 2007 and Dee Dee Meyers in 1993.
Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
-Sanders met Bryan Chatfield Sanders during her father's 2008 presidential campaign and married him in May 2010. The couple has three children together, according to the website imdb.com.
-Sanders is a 2004 graduate of Ouachita University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, with a degree in political science.
-She is an evangelical and reads from a book of Christian devotionals before every briefing, according to The New York Times.
-Sanders was named one of Time Magazine’s “40 under 40” in politics in 2010.
About the Author
