Rep. Mark Sanford (R) concedes defeat in South Carolina GOP primary

Rep. Mark Sanford unseated in GOP primary

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/Caitlyn Byrd)

Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) has lost a political race for the first time, all but conceding Tuesday's Republican primary to challenger Katie Arrington, a state legislator President Trump had endorsed in a tweet Tuesday afternoon. Even before The Associated Press projected that Arrington would win outright, Sanford told supporters Tuesday night, "I think that I'll end up losing this election." Sanford would be the second GOP incumbent unseated in primaries this year, after Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.).

Sanford, a fiscal conservative and member of the House Freedom Caucus first elected to Congress in 1994, also served two terms as governor, though he admitted in 2009 to secretly traveling to Argentina for an extramarital affair — a scandal Trump alluded to in his tweet: "Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble. He is better off in Argentina." Arrington will face Democrat Joe Cunningham, a lawyer and political novice, in a district Trump won in 2016 with 53.5 percent of the vote.

Trump's tweet did not push South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) over the finish line. He got less than 50 percent of the vote in Tuesday's GOP gubernatorial primary and will face Greenville businessman John Warren in a June 26 runoff election.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.