Sarah Louise Palin (Audio-IPASarah-Louise-Palin-en-US-pronunciation.ogg?pe?l?n; n�e (Married and maiden names) Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American (United States) politician who served as Governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009 (Resignation of Sarah Palin). She was the Republican (Republican Party (United States)) candidate for Vice President of the United States in 2008.

Palin was a member of the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996 and the citys mayor from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for Lieutenant Governor (lieutenant governor (United States)) of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 until her resignation in 2004. She was elected Governor of Alaska (List of Governors of Alaska) in November 2006. Palin became the first female governor (List of female state governors in the United States) of Alaska and the youngest person ever elected governor of that state.

In 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose Palin as his running mate in that years presidential election (United States presidential election, 2008), making her the second female candidate (List of female United States presidential and vice-presidential candidates) and the first Alaskan candidate of either major party on a national ticket, as well as the first female vice-presidential nominee of the Republican Party. Since the defeat of the McCain-Palin ticket in the 2008 election, there has been speculation that she may run for the Republican (Republican Party (United States)) presidential nomination in 2012 (United States presidential election, 2012).

On dateJuly 3, 2009mdy, Palin announced she would not seek reelection as governor and that she was resigning, effective dateJuly 26, 2009mdy, eighteen months prior to the completion of her first term. She cited ethics complaints (Resignation_of_Sarah_Palin) that had been filed following her selection as running mate to John McCain as the reason for her resignation, saying the resulting investigations had affected her efficacy to govern the state. TOC limitlimit=4