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The South Carolina Republican Party voted to censure Sanford in July.

(CNN) – Just hours after Gov. Mark Sanford held a news conference Thursday to fight back against Republican legislators seeking his ouster, the South Carolina Republican Party dealt him another blow by formally calling for his resignation.

Two-thirds of the GOP's executive committee voted to call for the governor's resignation at the end of an hour-long conference call organized by state Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Floyd.

Floyd sent a letter to Sanford after the result was announced informing him of the vote.

It is a stinging rebuke for Sanford from the grassroots wing of the party that has long been his base of support. Members of the party's executive committee are volunteers elected by their fellow political activists - the kind of Republicans who make phone calls, stuff envelopes and knock on doors during election years.

While Sanford has sparred publicly over his two terms with state GOP lawmakers, who have also called for his resignation, the state's grassroots activists have been dependably in his corner.

The vote was also a formal change of course for the state party: Floyd convened a similar conference call in July after Sanford revealed his extramarital affair, which resulted in a vote to censure Sanford for "repeated failures to act in accordance" with the party's core principles and beliefs. But at the time, the party did not ask for the governor to step down.

Sanford's spokesman Ben Fox immediately released a statement following the vote insisting "that working South Carolinians are ready to move beyond this political circus and media-driven distraction." He thanked the committee members who voted against the measure.

"We'd also thank those on the committee and others across the state who've cautioned against a rush to political judgment that would ultimately overturn an election before all the facts and indeed the 'rest of the story' is laid out," Fox said.

The South Carolina Republican Party voted to censure Sanford in July.

(CNN) – South Carolina Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Floyd is expected to seek a party resolution calling for Mark Sanford's resignation, a source familiar with plans for the call told CNN.

Floyd is expected to make the request on on a conference call Thursday afternoon with members of the state GOP executive committee. The call is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

The South Carolina Republican Party convened a similar conference call in July, which resulted in a vote to censure Sanford for "repeated failures to act in accordance" with the party's core principles and beliefs - but the party did not ask for Sanford to step down. At the time, Floyd issued a statement saying, "Now is the time for healing for our great state."

Thursday's conference call comes one day after 61 Republicans in the South Carolina House of Representatives wrote to Sanford demanding his resignation. But the governor has repeatedly rejected the onslaught of calls for him to resign, instead vowing to stay in office to fight for his fiscally conservative beliefs.

The South Carolina Republican Party formally reprimanded Mark Sanford on Monday.

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – After nearly four hours of deliberation and multiple rounds of balloting, the South Carolina Republican Party voted Monday night to censure Mark Sanford for secretly traveling overseas to visit his mistress - but stopped short of calling on the governor to resign.

Members of the state party's executive committee approved a resolution censuring Sanford for conduct that demonstrated "repeated failures to act in accordance" with the party's core principles and beliefs, according to GOP sources who were on the party conference call during the vote.

The resolution also reprimands the governor for "falling below the standards expected of Republican elected officials."

Although the resolution declares that Sanford "has breached the public's trust and confidence in his ability to effectively perform the duties of his office," it does not explicitly ask him to step down.

No sitting governor has ever been censured by the South Carolina Republican Party.

"We must hold true to our core beliefs and recommit to being Republican now more than ever before," party chairwoman Karen Floyd said in a statement. "And now is the time for healing for our great state."

Sanford's office released a statement shortly after the vote.

"The governor fully appreciates the party's position, and he intends to work diligently to earn back its trust," said Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer.

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