a governor's term in alabama is four years.
a governor's term in alabama is four years.
how long is a governor's term in alabama?
four years
the first alabama constitution, ratified in 1819, provided that a governor be elected every two years, limited to serve no more than four out of every six years. this limit remained in place until the constitution of 1868, which simply allowed governors to serve terms of two years. the current constitution of 1901 increased terms to four years, but prohibited governors from succeeding themselves. amendment 282 to the constitution, passed in 1968, allowed governors to succeed themselves once; a governor serving two consecutive terms can run again after waiting out the next term. the constitution had no set date for the commencement of a governor's term until 1901, when it was set at the first monday after the second tuesday in the january following an election. however, the alabama supreme court ruled in 1911 that a governor's term ends at midnight at the end of monday, and the next governor's term begins the next day, regardless of if they were sworn in on monday.
list of governors of alabama
folmar ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1982 winning just over 40% of the vote. folmar lost to george wallace, who was seeking an unprecedented fourth term. the election was noted as being the first truly competitive two-party campaign in alabama history due to strong republican political gains on the national, state and local levels after a long history of state democratic domination in alabama. however, alabama remained largely democratic at the state level, dooming folmar's campaign. afterward, he served as chairman of the alabama republican party from 1985 to 1989. with his high position in the party and with ronald reagan enjoying widespread popularity, folmar could have sought the republican gubernatorial nomination again in 1986, which instead went to guy hunt who was thought to be the republicans' "sacrificial lamb". the democratic side featured two strong candidates, bill baxley and charles graddick. graddick won the primary, but the alabama democratic party argued that many republicans had crossed over and "illegally" voted for graddick in the democratic primary. however, alabama had no party registration laws to restrict participation in either party primary by voters. democratic party leaders successfully managed to have graddick's win nullified in favor of baxley. the resulting negative press led to a voter backlash against democrats and guy hunt was subsequently elected the first republican alabama governor since the post-civil war reconstruction period. folmar later become state chairman for george h. w. bush's 1988 and 1992 us presidential campaigns. he is largely credited for helping guide the republican party back to legitimate status in the state. since his unsuccessful bid against wallace and subsequent state party leadership, of the four elected governors, three have been republicans. a second democrat was governor during the period. lieutenant governor jim folsom, jr. served out the remainder of hunt's term after he was convicted of misappropriating campaign contributions. folsom was then defeated by former governor fob james, a democrat turned republican.
emory folmar