The former White House press secretary won the Republican nomination for governor of Arkansas in May and is favored to win the deep-red state’s November general election. Her surgeon, John R. Sims, said in a statement that Sanders “is currently recovering from surgery in which we removed her thyroid gland and some of the surrounding lymph nodes in her neck. The surgery went extremely well and I look forward to back on her feet even within the next 24 hours. “This is Stage I papillary thyroid carcinoma which is the most common type of thyroid cancer and has an excellent prognosis. While he will need adjuvant treatment with radioactive iodine, as well as continued long-term follow-up, I think it’s fair to say that he is now cancer-free and not I expect some of that will slow her down,” Sims added. Returning to the governor’s mansion would be a homecoming for Sanders after spending her teenage years in that residence as the daughter of former governor Mike Huckabee. If she defeats Democrat Chris Jones in November, Sanders would be the first daughter in US history to serve as governor of the same state her father once led as well as the first female governor of Arkansas. Sanders left the White House in 2019 as a controversial figure on the national stage after two and a half years serving as one of President Donald Trump’s most trusted and staunch defenders. In her gubernatorial campaign, she has pointed to that term as evidence of her unwillingness to back down, casting herself as a bulwark against the “radical left” while heaping scorn on the national media. Sanders entered the GOP governor’s race in Arkansas in January 2021 and quickly won Trump’s endorsement. Her height also helped her eventually clear the field of two top contenders. Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin dropped out of the race to run for attorney general weeks after Sanders announced her bid. State Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who had served as Mike Huckabee’s legal counsel both when he was governor and when he ran for president in 2008, dropped out of the race in November to run for lieutenant governor. This story has been updated.
