COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Mark Sanford, the Republican former South Carolina congressman and governor whose political ascendency was stalled by a 2009 affair, has ended his latest bid for public office, saying that he’s quitting the race to reclaim his former coastal district to set up a nonprofit to address the national debt, his signature issue. Sanford, 65, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he was shuttering his campaign just a month after he launched it, a decision inspired by his desire to focus on combating the national debt and deficit. “What I hope to do is to indeed build a grassroots organization — start small, but I have a fair size circle of friends and folks with whom I have some degree of influence and contacts,” Sanford told the AP, also noting that, with one grandchild on the way, he realized as he mounted this campaign that he wanted to be able to spend more time with his family. The pivot comes after Sanford mounted a bid to reclaim his former seat in South Carolina’s 1st District.…