Sean Parnell Sean Parnell Sean R. Parnell (born November 19, 1962) is an American politician of the Republican Party. He succeeded Sarah Palin on 26 July 2009 to become the tenth governor of Alaska and served until 2014. Parnell was elected governor in his own right in 2010 by 59.06% of the vote, as the largest percentage margin of any Alaska governor since statehood. In 2014, he narrowly lost his bid for re-election and has since returned to work in the private sector. Born in Hanford, California, Parnell is a graduate from the University of Puget Sound's School of Law (now known
Alaska one week before the election. The conviction was set aside in April 2009 after evidence of prosecutorial misconduct emerged. Republican Frank Murkowski held the state's other senatorial position. After being elected governor in 2002, he resigned from the Senate and appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski as his successor. She won full six-year terms in 2004, 2010 and 2016. Alaska is not divided into counties, as most of the other U.S. states, but it is divided into "boroughs". Many of the more densely populated parts of the state are part of Alaska's 16 boroughs, which function somewhat similarly to