Mark Sanford

U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) holds a town hall meeting last month.

(Sean Rayford | Getty Images)

TRENTON -- A U.S. congressman has a message for President Donald Trump: What might fly in Jersey won't fly in South Carolina.

U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) told The Post and Courier, a newspaper in his home state, that Trump, a fellow Republican, sent an intermediary to threaten him into voting for his party's plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare -- a bill that collapsed last week.

Sanford, a longtime Trump critic, said White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, a friend, told him that "the president asked me to look you square in the eyes and to say that he hoped that you voted 'no' on this bill so he could run (a primary challenger) against you in 2018," according to the report, published Friday.

Sanford said a couple of his friends noted the whole thing reminded them of a certain 1972 movie about the mob.

"They said it sounds very 'Godfather'-ish," he told the newspaper. "Their point was that this approach might work in New Jersey, but it probably doesn't work so well in South Carolina."

Sanford said he has "nothing" against Trump, a New York City native who once owned multiple casinos in Atlantic City and still owns three private golf courses in New Jersey.

But, he added, he's "never had anyone, over my time in politics, put (the threat of a primary challenge) to me as directly as that."

The White House's press office did not immediately return a message from NJ Advance Media on Friday seeking comment.

Sanford is a member of the Freedom Caucus, about three dozen Republican lawmakers who opposed the bill, helping lead to its failure.

On Thursday, Trump took aim at the group on Twitter:

The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017

A few things to note, of course: "The Godfather" was largely about the New York mafia and Vito Corleone, the title character of the film, lived on Long Island.

Another famed mob-related piece of pop-culture, TV series "The Sopranos," did take place in New Jersey.

Sanford may be best known for his time as South Carolina's governor in the 2000s. In 2009, he revealed that he had an affair with a woman in Argentina after disappearing to visit her and sparking a scandal.

He resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors Association and was censured by the South Carolina Assembly, but he did not step down as governor. He was elected to Congress in 2012.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.