Report: Mark Sanford weighing congressional bid Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina governor who resigned in 2009 after admitting to an extramarital affair, is considering a re-entrance to politics, according to The State, which cites unnamed South Carolina politicos. Sanford, a Republican, is reportedly considering a bid for his old congressional seat - the seat currently held by Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who has been tapped to replace Jim DeMint in the Senate. DeMint recently announced his resignation from the Senate to run the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Sanford held the seat from 1995 to 2001. Sanford would have about 12 weeks to prepare a primary bid for the seat, in South Carolina's first district, according to the State. The field is expected to be crowded. In the lead-up to his 2009 resignation, the former two-term governor famously disappeared for a few days and was reported by his staff to be hiking the Appalachian trail. Not long after, reporters discovered that he was actually was visiting his girlfriend in Argentina. Sanford resigned, and later divorced his wife, Jenny Sanford. Jenny Sanford was among those on Gov. Nikki Haley's short list to replace DeMint in the Senate and has been mulling a run for Scott's seat herself.