H. Guy Hunt - Election As Governor

Election As Governor

After Reagan won election in 1980, he appointed Hunt as State Director of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee. He resigned in 1985 to run for governor. His campaign was not taken seriously at first even among Republicans, who were more concerned about helping Senator Jeremiah Denton win reelection. The press paid little attention to the Republican gubernatorial primaries, fully expecting that the nominee would be the next loser in the general election.

However, a fracas in the Democratic primary changed the picture. That race saw then Alabama Attorney General Charles Graddick in a runoff with Lieutenant Governor Bill Baxley. Graddick, the more conservative candidate, won by a few thousand votes. However, Baxley sued, claiming that Graddick violated primary regulations by encouraging Republicans to "cross over" and vote as Democrats. Graddick, for his part, maintained that this was legal because Alabama was an open primary state. The dispute made it all the way to the state Supreme Court, who told the Democrats to either declare Baxley the winner by default or hold another primary. The party picked Baxley. Alabamians, accustomed to a one-party state where anybody and everybody could vote in a primary, were outraged and took out their frustrations by voting for Hunt. In November, Hunt won the election by 13 points and 56 percent of the vote, receiving the most votes ever for a gubernatorial candidate at that time. Hunt's election surprised many Alabamians since the last Republican governor had left office 113 years earlier, at the end of Reconstruction. He narrowly won reelection in 1990 after trailing most of the way. Hunt's election is widely credited for turning Alabama into a two-party state as there have only been two Democratic governors in Alabama since he was elected.

Hunt pushed through major tort reform and tried to bring more industry and tourism to the state, but had to wrangle through massive opposition in the state legislature.

In 1992, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that taxpayers may sue Hunt for flying on state-owned aircraft to preaching engagements, where Hunt received monetary offerings.

As Governor, Hunt presided over eight executions in Alabama, all by electric chair.