Huckabee’s daughter to run ’16 campaign

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, will manage his 2016 presidential campaign.

Sanders, 33, previously served on her father’s 2008 campaign as national political director. Huckabee finished second that year to the Republican eventual nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

In a statement, the Huckabee campaign credited Sanders with “directing Gov. Huckabee’s Iowa campaign to a landslide upset victory in the Iowa caucuses.”

{mosads}Sanders most recently served as a senior adviser for now-Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R) successful Arkansas Senate run in 2014. In 2012, Sanders was a political adviser for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s (R) brief presidential run, and prior to that she managed the campaign for Sen. John Boozman’s (R-Ark.) landslide reelection victory in 2010.

The Huckabee campaign announced a host of other hires on Thursday, many of whom are longtime allies of the former governor.

Huckabee’s 2008 campaign manager, Chip Saltsman, will serve as a senior adviser this time around. Bob Wickers, a media consultant and pollster for Huckabee’s 2008 presidential bid, will serve in the same role in 2016.

New members to the team include senior communications adviser Hogan Gidley, who shot onto the scene as the spokesman for former Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-Pa.) run in the GOP primaries in 2012; Arkansas Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin (R), a former House member who will serve as senior policy adviser; and National Republican Congressional Committee veteran Jim Terry, who will act as political director.

The team will operate out of Little Rock, Ark.

The Huckabee campaign also announced a six-person national fundraising team, led by Alice Tadlock, who served as finance director for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s (R) 2008 presidential run.

Huckabee has never been a strong fundraiser, and he’s said he will rely heavily on small-dollar contributions from grassroots conservatives.

“I never have been and I’m not going to be the favorite candidate for those in the Washington to Wall Street corridor of power,” he said Tuesday during his presidential announcement.

“I will be funded and fueled not by the billionaires, but by the working people of America who will find out that $15 and $25 a month contributions can take us from hope to higher ground.”