Governorship of Sarah Palin December 4, 2006, and maintained a high approval rating throughout her term. On July 3, 2009, Sarah Palin announced her resignation as governor of Alaska. She stepped down on July 26, 2009, being replaced by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell. Palin had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step" declaring that she remains determined to clean up Alaska politics. However, Palin was also the subject of an ethics probe concerning her brother-in-law,
Governor (United States) Palin was inaugurated as the first female governor of Alaska, and January 14, 2008, when Kathleen Blanco left office as governor of Louisiana; and second, between January 10, 2009, when Beverly Perdue was inaugurated as governor of North Carolina, and January 20, 2009, when Ruth Ann Minner retired as governor of Delaware. There are currently 46 state governors who are non-Hispanic whites of European American background. There are 4 minority governors: Susana Martinez of New Mexico and Brian Sandoval of Nevada, who are Hispanic Americans; Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, who is of Palestinian descent; and David Ige of Hawaii,