Sarah Palin

Republican Sarah Palin was the youngest person and the first woman to serve as governor of Alaska, and also was Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate during the 2008 United States presidential election. After taking office in 2006, Palin was both praised for her personality and politics and criticized for her relative inexperience.

The daughter of two school teachers, Sarah Heath Palin was born in 1964 in Sandpoint, Idaho. She is the first Alaskan governor to be born after the territory gained statehood. Palin attended Wasilla High School. She was both a beauty queen and a member of the Wasilla High women's basketball team, which won the state championship in 1984. Palin also attended the University of Idaho, where she earned a degree in journalism. She worked in the media before pursuing a career in politics.

Early in her career, Palin was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for her lack of political experience. However, she has described herself as being a "hard-core conservative." At various points in her career, she opposed same-sex marriage and abortion and praised the concept of teaching the theory of creationism in public schools. Throughout her career, Palin has highlighted her conservative ideals while strongly criticizing the Democratic Party and what she saw as corrupt elements within her own party.

Public Service

Palin's career in politics began in 1993, when she was elected to her first of two terms on the Wasilla City Council. Palin subsequently served two terms as the mayor of Wasilla and was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.

In 2002, Palin ran unsuccessfully for the office of lieutenant governor of Alaska. She was defeated by fellow Republican Loren Leman but finished as the runner-up in overall voting.

Former Governor Frank Murkowski appointed Palin to the role of commissioner on Alaska's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Palin gained prominence in this position by playing the role of whistle-blower, calling attention to the ethics violations of her Republican colleagues. Her actions resulted in the resignation of Randy Ruedrich, chairman of the state's Republican Party. Palin resigned from her position in protest of what she considered a lack of ethics among the members of the commission.

Governor of Alaska and Vice Presidential Run

Palin went on to defeat Murkowski in Alaska's Republican gubernatorial primary in 2006. She defeated Democratic challenger and former governor Tony Knowles in the general election. Palin was forty-two years old when elected and, thus, became the youngest governor in the history of the state. She was also the first woman to hold the office of governor in Alaska.

In July 2007, the Weekly Standard named Palin "the most popular governor" in the United States and the "GOP's newest star." The article praised Palin's integrity and her often-contentious relationship with the rest of the Republican Party.

Governor Palin sought to rein in what she viewed as the excesses of the Murkowski administration. She grounded a private jet once used by Murkowski and announced the plane was for sale. Palin also overturned Murkowski's last-minute appointment of Jim Clark to the board of directors of the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority. She stated that Clark, Murkowski's former chief of staff, did not share her views on the state's pipeline development projects.

After taking office, Palin moved quickly to make her vision of Alaska a reality. She unveiled a plan to create a "sub-cabinet" of advisors that would focus on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions in the state. Palin also signed into law her own legislation, known as the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, which outlined a plan to build a natural gas pipeline in the state's northern region. In June 2007, Governor Palin signed the largest budget in Alaska's history. The $6.6 billion budget also included the second-largest cuts in the state's construction projects since Alaska became a state.

On August 29, 2008, US senator and presidential candidate John McCain announced that he had selected Palin as his running mate for vice president. The selection of Palin surprised many analysts and voters. Palin became the first woman in American history to be selected as a presidential running mate by the Republican Party. Palin was selected by the McCain campaign for being a staunch conservative, known for her pro-life views and her efforts in battling corruption.

In October 2008, an ethics report released by an Alaska legislative panel concluded that Governor Palin violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act by firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan. Monegan claimed he lost his job for refusing to fire an Alaska state trooper involved in a divorce and custody dispute with his ex-wife, Palin's sister. The McCain campaign responded to the finding by stating that it was politically motivated.

The election that would decide the forty-fourth president of the United States was held on November 4, 2008. McCain and Palin were defeated by Democratic Party challengers Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden. McCain delivered his concession speech from Phoenix, Arizona, where he thanked Palin as well as his supporters and offered his congratulations to president-elect Obama.

On July 3, 2009, Palin announced that she was resigning from the office of governor on July 29. The news came as a shock to Palin's colleagues in the Republican Party because she was scheduled to remain in office through 2010. Reaction to the announcement was mixed. It was unclear at the time of the announcement whether Palin intended to leave politics for good or whether she was making early moves to run for the presidency. She stated that she did not want to serve as a "lame duck" governor and would continue to work for Alaska outside the governor's office.

Media and Other Ventures

In November 2009, Palin published a book entitled Going Rogue, which details her experience as a candidate in the 2008 election. She continued to make regular appearances at events held by the conservative Tea Party movement. Throughout 2011, Palin undertook a nationwide bus tour with her family, visiting various locations of political and historical interest. During the tour, she conducted fundraising through her political action committee Sarah PAC. Although it had been previously speculated that Palin would announce a presidential campaign for the 2012 election, she announced in October 2011 that she would not be running.

Palin maintained her presence in the media through serving as a relatively regular contributor for Fox News beginning in 2010. Additionally, she helmed a new reality show, Amazing America with Sarah Palin, on the niche Sportsman Channel that first aired in early 2014. That same year, she also launched a paid online subscription service called The Sarah Palin Channel. However, the show was canceled after its first season and by the summer of 2015, it had been announced that Fox News had declined to renew its contract with Palin, and she had decided to shut down The Sarah Palin Channel; Palin reportedly closed down Sarah PAC at the end of 2016.

In 2017, she filed a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, accusing the newspaper of libel for an article it had printed that accused Palin of political incitement just before the 2011 shooting of a congresswoman. The lawsuit was dismissed in August of that year, but in 2019 was reinstated after an appeal; in 2020, a judge ordered that the case would go to trial by jury. The trial was scheduled for January 2022, but was delayed after Palin tested positive for COVID-19; that same month, after testing positive, Palin was criticized for dining at a New York City restaurant without wearing a mask. In February 2022, her libel case went to trial but was rejected. In August 2024, an appeals court revived the suit, citing, among other reasons, the trial judge ruling in favor of the Times because he felt a jury would not find that the Times was motivated by malice against Palin.

In April 2022, Palin filed to run for Alaska's only seat in the US House of Representatives in that year's special election. The seat was open for the first time in forty-nine years; longtime Alaska congressman Don Young had held the seat from 1973 until his death in March 2022. Palin joined a crowded field of over fifty other candidates, and soon earned an endorsement from former president Donald Trump.

The special election was held in August 2022, but the final vote count was not completed until the beginning of September. Palin ultimately lost the election to Democrat Mary Peltola, whose 51.5 percent share of the vote allowed her to narrowly defeat Palin, who received 48.5 percent of the vote. Peltola became the first Alaska Native to serve as a representative in Congress, and took office to serve the remainder of former congressman Young's term. Later that year, Palin faced Peltola and Republican rival Nick Begich in the November 2022 general election, which determined who would take Alaska's sole seat in the House of Representatives to serve a full term. While Palin earned more votes than Begich, Peltola won more votes than both of her Republican competitors, allowing her to prevail in the election and secure a full two-year term as Alaska's congresswoman.

In 2023, Palin spoke out in defense of former president Donald Trump about the many charges that had been filed against him. Palin even went so far to claim that a second US civil war was going to occur if state and federal authorities were allowed to continue with these prosecutions.

Personal Life

Palin was married to Todd Palin, a commercial fisher in Alaska, from 1988 to 2020. The Palins have five childrenWillow, Track, Piper, Bristol and Trig. Prior to his birth, Trig was diagnosed with Down syndrome.

Bibliography

Green, Joshua. "The Tragedy of Sarah Palin." The Atlantic, June 2011, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/06/the-tragedy-of-sarah-palin/308492/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

Katersky, Aaron. "Sarah Palin Granted New Trial in Defamation Lawsuit Against New York Times." ABC News, 28 Aug. 2024, abcnews.go.com/Politics/sarah-palin-new-york-times-defamation-lawsuit-new-trial/story?id=113214255. Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

Palin, Sarah. Going Rogue: An American Life. HarperCollins, 2009.

Peters, Jeremy W. "Sarah Palin’s Libel Claim Against The Times Is Rejected by a Jury." The New York Times, 15 Feb. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/business/media/new-york-times.html. Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

Peters, Jeremy W. "Sarah Palin Loses as the Party She Helped Transform Moves Past Her." The New York Times, 23 Nov. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/business/media/new-york-times.html. Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

Ruskin, Liz. "Sarah Palin is Attempting a Comeback in Alaska, But Her Star Has Dimmed at Home." NPR, 18 Apr. 2022, www.npr.org/2022/04/18/1093080089/sarah-palin-is-attempting-a-comeback-in-alaska-but-her-star-has-dimmed-at-home. Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

"Sarah Palin Fast Facts." CNN, 25 Jan. 2024, www.cnn.com/2013/07/10/us/sarah-palin-fast-facts/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

Shivaram, Deepa. "Democrat Mary Peltola Tops Sarah Palin to Win U.S. House Special Election in Alaska." NPR, 1 Sept. 2022, www.npr.org/2022/08/31/1120327126/palin-peltola-begich-alaska-special-house-election-results. Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

Waldman, Paul. "Why Fox News Fell Out of Love with Sarah Palin." The Week, 25 June 2015, theweek.com/articles/562570/why-fox-news-fell-love-sarah-palin. Accessed 18 Oct. 2014.