The billboard cost the website AshleyMadison.com $6,000. | Photo courtesy: AshleyMadison.com Affair site buys Sanford billboard

This is not the kind of billboard Mark Sanford wants to see in his home state.

AshleyMadison.com, a website that connects users looking to have casual (and often extramarital) affairs, is putting up a billboard in South Carolina that features the former Republican governor’s mug alongside the text: “Next Time Use AshleyMadison.com To Find Your Running Mate.”


The message, a not-so-subtle dig at Sanford’s “Appalachian Trail” moment years back, goes up Monday on Interstate 26 in Columbia, S.C., and the billboard cost the website $6,000.

( QUIZ: How well do you know Mark Sanford?)

The website’s founder doesn’t think they’ll get a lot of grief for it.

“Flak? Heck no, we expect to hear some horns honking in support,” AshleyMadison Founder Noel Biderman told POLITICO. The website says that I-26’s westbound traffic gets nearly 60,000 cars a day.

Believe it or not, Biderman actually wants Sanford to win against Elizabeth Colbert Busch.

“Mark Sanford has overcome a series of personal and professional hurdles to earn his place back in public service,” Biderman said. “While he recognizes the consequences of his actions, he maintains that his affair refined his life, but should not define it. … There’s a changing tide. More and more Americans are willing to forgive and forget – at least when it comes to affairs. Our society is coming to terms with the fact that people’s personal lifestyle choices should not impact their professional lives. Millions of people have affairs — powerful politicians are no exception.”

POLITICO has reached out to the Sanford campaign, but they have yet to comment on the billboard.