The 2020 presidential campaign of former U.S. Representative and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford began on September 8, 2019, when Sanford announced his intention to challenge incumbent President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in the 2020 election,[2] and ended on November 12.

[3] Sanford planned on making the announcement in South Carolina on September 2, but postponed due to Hurricane Dorian.

[4] In September, Sanford made several campaign stops in his home state of South Carolina (including Greenville, Columbia, and Mount Pleasant) wherein he "debated" with a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump.

[7] On October 16, 2019, Sanford formally launched his campaign with a week-long, 3,500 mile road trip which started in Philadelphia.

The road trip was called "Kids, We’re Bankrupt and We Didn’t Even Know It," and saw Sanford holding a large check for "one trillion dollars" that he hoped would "spark a needed conversation" within the Republican Party about spending and debt.