Todd Palin Biography

Known to Alaskans as the “First Dude,” Todd Palin is the husband of Alaska’s former governor, Sarah Palin. The Palins met as teens at Wasilla (Alaska) High School, where both played basketball. They eloped in 1988, after Sarah returned from college. The next year Todd began working for the oil company BP, eventually becoming a manager in the company’s oil fields on Alaska’s North Slope. He has also worked occasionally as a commercial fisherman in the salmon fisheries at Bristol Bay, thanks to a fishing license passed down through his family. An avid sportsman, Todd is a four-time winner of the Iron Dog race — an annual 2000-mile snowmobile race from Wasilla to Nome to Fairbanks. Todd Palin became nationally known in 2008 when his wife was nominated for vice-president of the United States, joining John McCain on the Republican ticket. That same year he was mentioned prominently in the so-called “Troopergate” investigation authorized by the Alaska state legislature, which found that Todd Palin had pressured state employees to fire Mike Wooten, an Alaska state trooper who was divorced from Sarah Palin’s sister. A separate investigation, by a state personnel board under Palin’s authority, later found the Palins innocent of any wrongdoing. After Sarah Palin quit her job as Alaskan governor in 2009, Todd joined her on the tour circuit as protective husband more than outspoken political commentator. He co-starred with Sarah in the television reality show Sarah Palin’s Alaska in 2010.