2010 United States gubernatorial elections candidate Kenneth Mapp, a former Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, in the general election on November 2, 2010. De Jongh defeated Mapp in the election. Governor Sarah Palin was elected in 2006 with 48% of the vote and was eligible to seek reelection in 2010. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced that she would not run for reelection, and resigned on July 26, 2009. On July 26, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell became the 12th Governor of Alaska. Parnell officially announced that he would be running for a first full-term in 2010. In August 2010 he won the
John Harris (Alaska politician) for Alaska governor in 2010, but dropped out of the race over fundraising concerns. Harris has asked Ben Stevens, former Alaska state senator and son of Ted Stevens, to resign from his position on the Republican National Committee. Stevens is under investigation for his ties to the oil field services company Veco Corp. In 2002, Harris offered an amendment that would have stopped an increase in state alcohol tax. In 2001, due to legal problems posed when pilots fly into Canada, he introduced a bill to change the law requiring pilots to carry a gun as part of their survival