Former president Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed Sarah Palin for Alaska's lone congressional seat, throwing his weight behind the ex-governor who embraced Trump before he came to dominate the GOP. 

Palin announced Friday that she is running for the seat vacated by Republican Rep. Don Young, who died last month after representing Alaska for nearly half a century. Trump's approval could boost the former governor and vice-presidential candidate's standing in a field of more than 50 candidates.

"Sarah shocked many when she endorsed me very early in 2016, and we won big," Trump said in a statement Sunday. "Now, it's my turn! Sarah has been a champion for Alaska values, Alaska energy, Alaska jobs, and the great people of Alaska." He went on to praise Palin for standing up to "corruption" in government and the "Fake News Media."

Republican candidates have scrambled to court Trump for support in 2022 races, even as the former president slows his endorsements and shows a willingness to abandon favorites - renouncing his support for Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., last month after the Senate hopeful strayed slightly from Trump's relentless false narratives of the 2020 presidential race.

Palin's race and a slew of upcoming primaries will test the power of Trump's support in 2022 as his chosen gubernatorial candidate in Georgia struggles and as some observers say an intense focus on election falsehoods could hurt his picks in the general contest.

Palin, who, like Trump, portrays herself as a brash voice against the establishment, cast herself as a fighter against the "radical left" in a Facebook post announcing her congressional candidacy. She shot to right-wing stardom as Sen. John McCain's running mate in the 2008 presidential election and went on to boost the tea party movement, champion conservative causes on Fox News and appear on reality TV.

"America is at a tipping point," Palin said in a statement, criticizing inflation and in particular rising gas prices. "As I've watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight."

Young's death at age 88 kicked off the first special election in Alaska since the state adopted a top-four primary system, scrambling politics in a place where Democrats have not won a federal election since 2008. Many Republicans opposed the change, which voters passed in 2020.

Candidates of every party will compete in a June 11 primary for Young's former seat; the four who get the most votes will appear on an Aug. 16 ranked-choice ballot. The packed field of candidates includes 2020 Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Al Gross, Anchorage Assembly member Christopher Constant, D, and Republican state Sen. Josh Revak, who had chaired Young's 2022 reelection campaign.

Palin paid tribute to Trump as she expressed interest in Young's former seat.

"We need people like Donald Trump, who has nothing to lose, like me," she said on Fox News last month. "We've got nothing to lose and no more of this vanilla milquetoast namby-pamby . . . stuff that's been going on."

Palin was elected Alaska's first female governor in 2006 and became a household name when former Republican presidential nominee McCain selected her as his running mate. Palin excited the right but quickly drew ridicule for gaffes and was skewered on "Saturday Night Live," which portrayed her as unprepared to hold such high office.

She stayed in the news after leaving political office - garnering a $1.25 million advance for a memoir that sold more than 2 million copies, signing a contract with Fox News and starring in the TLC show "Sarah Palin's Alaska." More recently, she danced to Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" on the reality competition "The Masked Singer" while wearing a pink and purple bear costume.

This year, she made headlines for defying New York City's coronavirus rules by dining out in the city while unvaccinated. Her long-running libel suit against the New York Times also went to trial.

"What am I trying to accomplish? Justice, for people who expect the truth in the media," Palin told reporters as she entered court. A judge dismissed the case in February, saying Palin did not show that the Times acted with "actual malice" even as he criticized the newspaper's error in a 2017 editorial.

Palin's popularity in Alaska fell drastically after her 2008 vice-presidential campaign and her decision to resign as governor the following summer. In 2018, when Palin suggested that she might challenge Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, after the moderate incumbent voted against Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, a poll conducted by Alaska Survey Research found that 31% of Alaskans had a favorable view of Palin.

Announcing her congressional candidacy Friday, Palin criticized liberal stances on immigration and called for "energy security" while saying the federal government should let the "free market" reign.

"I realize that I have very big shoes to fill," she wrote.

The Washington Post's Dave Weigel contributed to this report.