--- title: GOP Rep. Mark Sanford and Argentine Fiancee Break Engagement description: Sanford has reached the end of the Appalachian Trail canonical: https://time.com/3361581/congressman-mark-sanford-breaks-engagement-to-argentine-fiancee/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-13T16:03:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:10:10.947Z article:section: Politics og:title: GOP Rep. Mark Sanford and Argentine Fiancee Break Engagement og:description: Sanford has reached the end of the Appalachian Trail og:url: https://time.com/3361581/congressman-mark-sanford-breaks-engagement-to-argentine-fiancee/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d1c0da7b3223f33/6986a32ae53abad6434d465d/ap13043005091.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Mark Sanford og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GOP Rep. Mark Sanford and Argentine Fiancee Break Engagement twitter:description: Sanford has reached the end of the Appalachian Trail twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d1c0da7b3223f33/6986a32ae53abad6434d465d/ap13043005091.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Congressman Mark Sanford Breaks Engagement to Argentine Fiancée > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 13, 2014 4:03 PM UTC  Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford at the NAACP 1st Congressional District political forum, April 30, 2013 in Goose Creek, S.C. Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford at the NAACP 1st Congressional District political forum, April 30, 2013 in Goose Creek, S.C. Rainier Ehrhardt—AP by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 13, 2014 4:03 PM UTC Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina announced Friday that he and his Argentine fiancée are breaking off their engagement, saying their split was due to legal battles with his ex-wife. Sanford made headlines in 2009 when, as South Carolina’s governor, he revealed that he and the Argentine Maria Belen Chapur had been having an affair. The admission came after he vanished for several days in June to visit Chapur in Argentina, with one of his aides explaining he was hiking the “Appalachian Trail.” The fib became a running joke and gave a salacious new meaning to the phrase “hiking the Appalachian Trail.” Sanford announced his break from Chapur in [a long Facebook post Friday](https://www.facebook.com/RepSanfordSC/posts/280140345529087), saying their relationship was strained by tensions with his ex-wife Jenny Sanford. The GOP Representative is in a custody battle with his ex-wife for their children. “No relationship can stand forever this tension of being forced to pick between the one you love and your own son or daughter,” he [said](https://www.facebook.com/RepSanfordSC/posts/280140345529087). He went on: “Maybe there will be another chapter when waters calm with Jenny, but at this point the environment is not conducive to building anything given no one would want to be caught in the middle of what’s now happening.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3361581/congressman-mark-sanford-breaks-engagement-to-argentine-fiancee/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3361581/congressman-mark-sanford-breaks-engagement-to-argentine-fiancee/"},"headline":"Congressman Mark Sanford Breaks Engagement to Argentine Fiancée","datePublished":"2014-09-13T16:03:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:10:10.947Z","description":"Sanford has reached the end of the Appalachian Trail","url":"https://time.com/3361581/congressman-mark-sanford-breaks-engagement-to-argentine-fiancee/","keywords":["Congress"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d1c0da7b3223f33/6986a32ae53abad6434d465d/ap13043005091.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d1c0da7b3223f33/6986a32ae53abad6434d465d/ap13043005091.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mark Sanford","caption":"Mark Sanford","creditText":"Rainier Ehrhardt—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3361581/congressman-mark-sanford-breaks-engagement-to-argentine-fiancee/","name":"Congressman Mark Sanford Breaks Engagement to Argentine Fiancée"}}]}] ```