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Sanders Pledges ‘Bold’ Agenda As First Female Governor of Arkansas

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Newly inaugurated GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has followed in her father’s footsteps to lead the state of Arkansas after cruising to victory in November, but even more than that, she has become the state’s first female governor.

But that’s not what motivated her to run in the first place. Rather, the former White House press secretary entered the race last year, with the blessing of her one-time boss, former President Donald Trump, to implement a “bold” agenda that starts with reforming the state’s education system with an eye toward improving outcomes.

During her inaugural speech, Sanders, 40, who served as then-President Donald Trump’s second press secretary, pledged to bring an “aggressive, bold, and conservative” agenda that will have a “generational impact” on the state after easily besting Democratic challenger Chris Jones.

“It is a pretty humbling thing,” Sanders told Fox News Digital during an exclusive interview before she was sworn into office. “As far as we know, we’ll be the first-ever father-daughter pair anywhere in the country, and so, you know, that is a pretty historic and amazing thing.”

Sanders has spent years in politics working on several campaigns. She said she “always thought” she would work “more behind the scenes” in politics, but it did not work out that way.

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Her father, Mike Huckabee, was Arkansas governor from 1996 to 2007.

“And here I am, anything but after the last few years,” she told Fox News. “It certainly was not the path I envisioned, but it is one I’m extremely excited and enthusiastic about taking on.”

The newly sworn-in governor said she is “a little biased” but noted that her father is “certainly the best governor we’ve ever had here in Arkansas and one of the best governors we’ve ever had in the country.”

“He’s set the bar high, and I have very big shoes to fill,” Sanders said, going on to say there is “nobody more hopeful and more helpful in helping me achieve my goals.”

She then noted that education reform is high on her agenda.

“I’ve made no secret that the biggest priority I have for this session is a large-scale education reform package,” Sanders said. “I am really excited to work with our legislative partners to bring about education reform that, I think, will have a generational impact on our state.”

She says as a mother of small children, she is familiar with current education methods and standards, which she finds lacking.

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“I am living it every day with a fifth-grader, a third-grader and a first-grader, and I feel the impact of education and what it means and what it means to each kid,” she said, adding that they “all learn differently and all need different things.”

“Making sure that we are providing the best pathway and best opportunities to every student in the state is going to be a big priority and going to be very important as we move forward in this session.”

Sanders said voters in her state have “sent a pretty strong and clear message of what they are hoping for.”

“There is a real hunger, not just from the public, but I think also from the legislature here, where we have Republican super-majorities in the House and the Senate, to do some pretty big things and enact some conservative reform,” Sanders said.

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In October, her campaign announced that she had a positive outcome from her treatment for thyroid cancer.

In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Sanders said she left the campaign trail after being diagnosed over Labor Day weekend to have surgery, removing her thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes.

“I feel great. I’m incredibly blessed to have had this caught early by the grace of God and the amazing doctors and nurses who gave me world-class care here in Arkansas. I’m now cancer-free,” Sanders said. “I’m grateful to have that behind me, be back on the campaign trail, and I had some great moments of perspective on everything that really matters in life.”

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