Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin explains the rise of the Trump movement during Politicon at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, Calif., in June 2016. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI |
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April 1 (UPI) -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she would run in a special election for the U.S. House and has filed her campaign with the Federal Election Commission.
Palin, 58, is running to fill Alaska's only congressional seat as she returns to seeking elected office for the first time she ran for vice president during late Sen. Joh McCain's campaign for president in 2008. Palin resigned as governor after losing the election to former President Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
The congressional seat was vacated last month upon the death of Rep. Don Young, a Republican, who was the longest-serving congressman in the history of the lower chamber.
"Public service is a calling, and I would be honored to represent the men and women of Alaska in Congress just as Rep. Young did for 49 years," Palin said in a statement.
"I realize that I have very big shoes to fill, and I plan to honor Rep. Young's legacy by offering myself up in the name of service to the state he loved and fought for, because I share that passion for Alaska and the United States of America."
Since retreating from elected office, Palin has remained a fixture in conservative circles and was sought after by former President Donald Trump for her endorsement during his 2016 presidential campaign.
"America is at a tipping point. As I've watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight," Palin said in her statement.
"The people of the great State of Alaska, like others all over the country, are struggling with out-of-control inflation, empty shelves, and gas prices that are among the highest in the world."
Palin also said that Democrats are "selling out our nation's interests to the highest bidder" as she criticized the administration of President Joe Biden for its handling of immigration at the border and its handling of rising oil prices in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"We need energy security for this country, and Alaska can help provide that, but only if the federal government gets out of the way and lets the free market do what it does best," Palin said.
In February, Palin lost her highly followed defamation lawsuit against The New York Times after a U.S. District Court judge in New York said Palin's lawyers did not prove the newspaper knowingly wrote false or reckless information in a 2017 editorial.
