Sarah Palin is an American politician, commentator, author and reality television personality.
Let’s dive into some unknowns and facts about her!
- Her full name is Sarah Louise Palin
- She was born on February 11, 1964
- She is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality
- She has served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009
- As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2008 election alongside presidential nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain
- She was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major political party
- And the first Republican woman selected as a vice presidential candidate
- Her book Going Rogue has sold more than two million copies
- She was elected to the Wasilla city council in 1992
- And became mayor of Wasilla in 1996
- In 2003, after an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor, she was appointed chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
- Responsible for overseeing the state’s oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency
- In 2006, she became the youngest person and the first woman to be elected Governor of Alaska
- Since her resignation as governor, she has endorsed and campaigned for the Tea Party movement
- As well as several candidates in multiple election cycles
- Prominently including Donald Trump for president in 2016
- From 2010 to 2015, she provided political commentary for Fox News
- She hosted TLC’s Sarah Palin’s Alaska in 2010-11
- And Amazing America with Sarah Palin on the Sportsman Channel in 2014-15
- On July 27, 2014, Palin launched the online news network called the Sarah Palin Channel
- Which was closed on July 4, 2015
- Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho
- She was the third of four children
- Three daughters and one son
- Her parents were Sarah “Sally” Heath (née Sheeran), a school secretary, and Charles R. “Chuck” Heath, a science teacher and track-and-field coach
- Palin’s siblings are Chuck Jr., Heather, and Molly
- Palin is of English, Irish, and German ancestry
- When Palin was a few months old, the family moved to Skagway, Alaska
- There her father had been hired to teach
- They relocated to Eagle River in 1969
- And settled in Wasilla in 1972
- Palin played flute in the junior high band
- She attended Wasilla High School
- There she was head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
- And a member of the girls’ basketball and cross-country running teams
- During her senior year, she was co-captain and point guard of the basketball team that won the 1982 Alaska state championship
- Earning the nickname “Sarah Barracuda” for her competitive streak
- In 1984, Palin won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant
- She finished third (as second runner-up) in the Miss Alaska pageant
- There she won the title of “Miss Congeniality”
- She played the flute in the talent portion of the contest
- One author reports that she received the Miss Congeniality award in the Miss Wasilla contest
- But this is disputed by another contestant and classmate of Palin’s
- And a college scholarship
- After graduating from high school in 1982, Palin enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Hilo
- Shortly after arriving in Hawaii, Palin transferred to Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu for a semester in the fall of 1982
- She returned to the mainland
- Enrolling at North Idaho College, a community college in Coeur d’Alene, for the spring and fall semesters of 1983
- She transferred and enrolled at the University of Idaho in Moscow for an academic year starting in August 1984
- Beginning in the fall of 1985, she attended Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska
- Palin returned to the University of Idaho in January 1986
- And received her bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism in May 1987
- After graduation, she worked as a sportscaster for KTUU-TV and KTVA-TV in Anchorage
- And as a sports reporter for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman
- Fulfilling an early ambition
- In August 1988, she eloped with Todd Palin, her high school sweetheart
- Following the birth of their first child in April 1989, Palin helped in her husband’s commercial fishing business
- Sarah and Todd Palin married on August 29, 1988
- They have five children
- Sons Track Cj (born 1989) and Trig Paxson Van (born 2008)
- And daughters Bristol Sheeran Marie (born 1990), Willow Bianca Faye (born 1994), and Piper Indy Grace (born 2001)
- Palin’s youngest child, Trig, born 2008, was prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome
- Palin has five grandchildren
- Three by Bristol and two by Track
- Her husband Todd worked for oil company BP as an oil-field production operator, retiring in 2009
- He owns a commercial fishing business
- Palin was “baptized Catholic as a newborn” as her mother, Sally, had been raised Catholic
- However, the Heath family “started going to non-denominational churches” thereafter
- Later, her family joined the Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal church
- Which she attended until 2002
- Palin then switched to the Wasilla Bible Church
- Several news reports posted immediately after McCain named her his running mate called her the first Pentecostal/charismatic believer to appear on a major-party ticket
- Palin does not use the term “Pentecostal” but says she is a “Bible-believing Christian”
- Palin’s home in Wasilla, as well as the home of her parents, were both heavily damaged during the 7.0 magnitude earthquake on November 30, 2018
- No members of the Palin family were injured
- Todd filed for divorce from Sarah on August 29, 2019
- Citing “incompatibility of temperament”
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