Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took the witness stand on Wednesday in her defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, giving the jury a folksy overview of her family life in Alaska and ascent in Republican politics.

Palin testified for only about 20 minutes at the end of the day at a civil trial in Manhattan federal court after a Times editor named as a defendant in the suit testified at length.

She is to return to court Thursday for a chance to get into the crux of the case � her claim that the newspaper damaged her reputation with an editorial linking her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting. Closing arguments are set for Friday.

Palin, 57, described herself for jurors as a single mother and grandmother who �holds down the fort� for her family in Alaska when not advising candidates about �the good, bad and ugly� of politics. She also recalled the surprise over her emergence as a vice-presidential candidate in 2008, saying, �I don�t think they were prepared for me.�

In his own testimony, former Times editorial page editor James Bennet characterized the disputed wording involving Palin as a �terrible mistake� on his part. He added: �We are human beings. We do make mistakes.�

Palin sued the Times for unspecified damages in 2017, accusing it of damaging her career as a political commentator with the editorial about gun control published after U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was wounded when�a man with a history of anti-GOP activity�opened fire on a Congressional baseball team practice in Washington.

In�the editorial, the Times wrote that before the 2011 mass shooting in Arizona that severely wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and killed six others, Palin�s political action committee had contributed to an atmosphere of violence by circulating a map of electoral districts that put Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized crosshairs.

In a correction two days later, The Times said the editorial had �incorrectly stated that a link existed between political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting� and that it had �incorrectly described� the map.

The jury will have to decide whether Bennet acted with �actual malice,� meaning he knew what he wrote was false, or with �reckless disregard� for the truth. A contrite Bennett admitted Wednesday that he botched the edit but intended no harm.

�I�ve regretted it pretty much every day since,� he said, adding, �That�s on me. That�s my failure.�

(AP)