Childhood & Early Life
Sarah Huckabee Sanders was born on August 13, 1982, to Mike Huckabee and Janet Huckabee as their only daughter among three children. Her two brothers are John and David.
Her father is an American politician, commentator, musician, author and Christian minister, who remained the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. Her father also remained a candidate twice in the US Republican presidential primaries in 2008 and 2016 respectively.
Her mother, Janet Huckabee, is also an American politician who ran as the nominee for the US Republican Party for Arkansas Secretary of State in 2002.
Huckabee Sanders studied at the ‘Little Rock Central High School’ located in Little Rock, Arkansas. She then studied at the ‘Ouachita Baptist University’ located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
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Career
Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ journey as a political aide began when she joined her father Mike Huckabee’s re-election campaign as field coordinator during the Arkansas gubernatorial election in 2002. The election saw her father being re-elected for a second four-year term as Governor of Arkansas.
She served as a regional go-between for congressional matters at the Department of Education. In 2004, during the re-election campaign of the US President George W. Bush, Huckabee Sanders served as field coordinator for the campaign in Ohio.
During her father’s presidential campaign in 2008, she was its national political director. According to American daily middle-market newspaper ‘US Today’, she gave consultation to her father "on everything from debate strategy to tie selection”.
According to a ‘Time’ magazine profile she spent her time in the 2008 campaign "working up to 90 hours a week, running her father's schedule and event briefings not only in Iowa but in South Carolina and New Hampshire. In addition, she oversees outreach and acts as her Dad's surrogate in Iowa."
Mike Huckabee pulled out from the race to the White House on March 4, 2008 after losing the Texas Republican primary.
Huckabee Sanders then took over as the director of the political action committee ‘Huck PAC’, objective of which is to promote conservative principles and aid in electing conservative hopefuls at each government level. Her name found place in ‘Time’ magazine's ‘40 under 40’ in 2010.
When John Boozman, a member of the US House of Representatives resolved to relinquish his House seat to run for the US Senate election in Arkansas in 2010, Huckabee Sanders became his campaign manager.
Calling incumbent two-term Democrat Blanche Lincoln as a "solid vote for President Obama" and describing Boozman as someone who "stands up to the Obama Administration’s reckless agenda”, she endeavoured in creating a solid base for the latter.
During the first Republican primary debate between US Senate candidates Boozman was in the House of Representatives. Huckabee Sanders stood in for him mentioning that he was "in D.C. fighting against (the Senate health care bill)”.
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In May 2010, Boozman won the Republican primary and then went on to defeat Lincoln by a 21-point margin. After Reconstruction, Boozman became the first Republican to be elected to the seat.
In 2011, along with her role as a political aide, she became a full-time consultant at ‘Tsamoutales Strategies’ and later in January 2014 she became the group’s Vice President. She left the group in June 2015.
She was inducted as senior advisor of Republican politician Tim Pawlenty’s 2012 run for president. After joining the campaign for Pawlenty, who served as the 39th Governor of Minnesota till January 3, 2011, she concentrated on his Iowa campaign.
She was also associated in the campaign of Republican politician Tom Cotton's 2014 run for the US Senate election in Arkansas. On January 3, 2015, Cotton assumed office as US Senator from Arkansas serving along with Boozman.
In February 2016, she co-founded the consulting firm ‘Second Street Strategies’ in Little Rock, Arkansas.
She served as campaign manager for her father’s 2016 presidential campaign but when her father ended his run to the White House on February 1, 2016, Huckabee Sanders joined the Donald Trump campaign.
She was signed as a senior advisor in the Trump campaign and later in September 2016 her responsibilities were increased when she also had to look after the campaign’s liaison for coalitions.
Meanwhile in May 2016, she was signed as senior advisor of John Brunner, a 2016 Republican candidate for governor of Missouri.
She became part of the Donald Trump presidential administration at the verge of the latter’s transition. On January 19, 2017, she was named as the Deputy White House Press Secretary in the new Trump administration as also Deputy Assistant to the President.
On January 20, 2017, she assumed office as White House Deputy Press Secretary succeeding Eric Schultz.
She gave her first White House press brief on May 5, 2017, filling in for the present White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer who went on a Naval Reserve duty at the Pentagon.
