--- title: Mike Huckabee's Daughter Joins Donald Trump Campaign description: Donald Trump announced Thursday that Mike Huckabee's daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is joining his campaign. canonical: https://time.com/4237825/donald-trump-sarah-huckabee-campaign/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-25T20:43:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:09.667Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mike Huckabee's Daughter Joins Donald Trump's Campaign og:description: Donald Trump announced Thursday that Mike Huckabee's daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is joining his campaign. og:url: https://time.com/4237825/donald-trump-sarah-huckabee-campaign/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7055f954b09726e/69887ee30a4a22fd939c8841/donald-trump10.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In South Carolina Ahead Of State's Primary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mike Huckabee's Daughter Joins Donald Trump's Campaign twitter:description: Donald Trump announced Thursday that Mike Huckabee's daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is joining his campaign. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7055f954b09726e/69887ee30a4a22fd939c8841/donald-trump10.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mike Huckabee's Daughter Joins Donald Trump's Campaign ## Video: Watch Donald Trump Dodge a Bald Eagle [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Donald Trump Dodge a Bald Eagle](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5CcEYNNO.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2015-12-08. Last August, as Person of the Year runner-up Donald Trump was establishing himself as a real contender, the candidate agreed to pose with a bald eagle for a TIME cover story._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 25, 2016 8:43 PM UTC  Donald Trump speaks to voters in Bluffton, SC on Feb. 17, 2016. Donald Trump speaks to voters in Bluffton, SC on Feb. 17, 2016.Win McNamee—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 25, 2016 8:43 PM UTC Donald Trump announced Thursday that Mike Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is joining his campaign. “I have great respect for Governor Mike Huckabee and we have a mutual admiration for our wonderful families. It is great to have his daughter, Sarah, join the campaign,” Trump said in a statement. “What makes Mr. Trump my choice for president is he will break the grip of the donor class on our government and make it accountable to working families again,” said Sanders, who is joining Trump’s team as a senior advisor. Sanders’ father, the former Arkansas Governor, was previously Trump’s rival for the Republican nomination and [dropped out of the race](http://time.com/4203702/iowa-caucuses-mike-huckabee-ends/) immediately after the Iowa caucus results rolled in. Huckabee, who ran for president in 2008 as well and won the Iowa caucus that year, has yet to endorse someone in the race. The announcement could be a hint that he’ll throw his weight behind Trump. Huckabee is [no fan of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz](http://time.com/4195668/mike-huckabee-ted-cruz-adele/), who successfully appealed to Huckabee’s evangelical Christian base during this campaign. But Huckabee does have a close relationship with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; Rubio endorsed him in 2008, and Huckabee helped Rubio in his Senate election in 2010\. If Huckabee’s daughter’s new gig on team Trump is any indication, those ties with Rubio may be strained. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4237825/donald-trump-sarah-huckabee-campaign/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4237825/donald-trump-sarah-huckabee-campaign/"},"headline":"Mike Huckabee's Daughter Joins Donald Trump's Campaign","datePublished":"2016-02-25T20:43:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:56:09.667Z","description":"Donald Trump announced Thursday that Mike Huckabee's daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is joining his campaign.","url":"https://time.com/4237825/donald-trump-sarah-huckabee-campaign/","keywords":["Donald Trump","mike huckabee"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7055f954b09726e/69887ee30a4a22fd939c8841/donald-trump10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7055f954b09726e/69887ee30a4a22fd939c8841/donald-trump10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In South Carolina Ahead Of State's Primary","caption":"GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In South Carolina Ahead Of State's Primary","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","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":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4237825/donald-trump-sarah-huckabee-campaign/","name":"Mike Huckabee's Daughter Joins Donald Trump's Campaign"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch Donald Trump Dodge a Bald Eagle","description":"Last August, as Person of the Year runner-up Donald Trump was establishing himself as a real contender, the candidate agreed to pose with a bald eagle for a TIME cover story.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5CcEYNNO/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-08T21:32:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5CcEYNNO.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4237825/donald-trump-sarah-huckabee-campaign/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4237825/donald-trump-sarah-huckabee-campaign/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```