Gov. Palin to resign

WASILLA, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will resign as governor July 26, the Anchorage Daily News is reporting.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will take over at the Governor's Picnic in Fairbanks on July 26.

"People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska," Palin was quoted as saying to The Anchorage Daily News.

"Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine."

She made the announcement at a news conference at her home in Wasilla, setting up a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

She said she would resign at the end of this month and transfer power to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.

Palin made the announcement from her home in Wasilla, flanked by her husband, Todd, and family and state commissioners.

"I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path," Palin said.

"Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional 'Lame Duck' status in this particular climate would just be another dose of 'politics as usual,' something I campaigned against and will always oppose. It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success."

Palin's decision now allows her to avoid the difficult task of running for president while serving as governor.

Palin gained national prominence when GOP presidential candidate John McCain picked her as his running mate last year. But her approval ratings in the state have skidded in recent months. Palin was first elected in 2006 on a populist platform. But her popularity has waned as she waged in partisan politics following her return from the presidential campaign.

The Anchorage Daily News said that after Parnell is sworn in as governor, Craig Campbell, head of the state Department of Military Affairs and National Guard, will become lieutenant governor.
 

(The Anchorage Daily News, FOXNews.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report)