Sarah Huckabee Sanders opened up about the plans she has for Arkansas ahead of her swearing-in as the state’s first female governor.
In November, Sanders, a Republican, defeated her Democratic opponent Chris Jones.
Fox News noted she will be following in her father’s footsteps as he served as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.
“It is a pretty humbling thing,” Sanders told Fox News during an interview.
She added, “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.”
Reflecting on her time as former President Donald Trump’s press secretary and her other work on political campaigns, Sanders “always thought” she would be working “more behind the scenes” in the world of politics.
“And here I am, anything but after the last few years,” Sanders said.
Upon her departure from the White House in 2019, Trump urged her to run for governor.
“It certainly was not the path I envisioned, but it is one I’m extremely excited and enthusiastic about taking on,” Sanders said.
She acknowledged she is “a little biased” but that her father, Mike Huckabee, 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.”
Sanders said, ”He’s set the bar high, and I have very big shoes to fill.” She added there is “nobody more hopeful and more helpful in helping me achieve my goals.”
Commenting on her top priority upon becoming governor, Sanders told Fox News, “I’ve made no secret that the biggest priority I have for this session is a large-scale education reform package.”
She added, “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.”
Additionally, she shared her experience of being a mother and what she has seen from schools across the state.
“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,” Sanders explained.
The former press secretary pointed out they “all learn differently and all need different things.”
According to Sanders, “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.”
The people of Arkansas appear to have made it clear what they are looking for from Sanders.
“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,” she said.
Public safety is also a priority for her.
“Making sure that our law enforcement officers have the training and the resources and the tools that they need to do their job well, and being supportive of their efforts, and putting some truth into sentencing here in the state of Arkansas,” Sanders said, declaring she would be “making sure that violent repeat offenders aren’t let out into our community so that they can continue to commit crime.”
During the interview with Fox News, Sanders also reflected on the state of politics as a whole.
“Washington has, frankly, become so polarized that it is paralyzed,” she said.
Sanders argued, “Very little positive, if anything, comes out of Washington these days, and so, I am really focused on what we can do to empower our citizens, protect individual freedoms and create better opportunity for every Arkansan.”
