Apparently hungry for a political comeback, former Alaska governor and failed vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced late Friday that she is running for Congress.
Palin, whose announcement initially caused some to wonder if it was perhaps an April Fool’s joke, joins a competitive field to fill Alaska’s lone congressional seat following the death of Rep. Don Young last month. Palin is often credited with ushering fringe Tea Party politics into the mainstream, and ultimately paving the way for the election of Donald Trump.
“As I’ve watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight,” Palin said in a statement that also warned that America was at a “tipping point.”
While she hasn’t had a political role in over a decade, Palin has managed to remain a fixture in the news, particularly through her various stabs at media success. First came a poorly reviewed and barely watched reality television show, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” Then, in 2014, Palin launched a subscriber-based online news channel, the “Sarah Palin Channel.” That venture quickly folded.
But Palin’s most recent 15 minutes of fame came in January during a visit to New York City for her federal defamation case against the New York Times, when she tested positive for Covid and was seen hitting the town unmasked, despite her diagnosis. The judge said Palin lacked sufficient evidence, and the jury, in any case, ruled against her, but Palin said she intended to seek a new trial.