Jim Folsom | Alabama Governor | Campaign Ad | 1994
8Jim Folsom | Alabama Governor | Campaign Ad | 1994
Born in Montgomery, Alabama, he is the son of former First Lady of Alabama Jamelle Folsom and legendary two-term Alabama Governor James E. "Big Jim" Folsom Sr.[1] Jim Folsom Jr. is therefore known as "Little Jim" even though he is well over six feet tall. In 1974, he graduated from Jacksonville State University, where he presently serves as a trustee.
During his first run for a political office, he lost the primary to incumbent Democratic Congressman Tom Bevill by an overwhelming margin. However he was elected to the Alabama Public Service Commission in 1978.
In 1980, he ran for the U.S. Senate and attacked the incumbent, Donald W. Stewart, as being too liberal for Alabama and called him a "puppet of the great Washington power structure." Although Stewart outspent Folsom with 500,000 to 75,000 USD, he very narrowly missed winning majority in the primary and lost in the runoff.[2] He was re-elected to the Alabama Public Service Commission in 1982.
Folsom narrowly lost the next general election to Republican Jeremiah Denton, who was aided by the Ronald Reagan landslide, which helped Republican candidates across the country.
Folsom was elected Alabama Lieutenant Governor and served from January 19, 1987 to April 22, 1993 (being re-elected in 1990), where Folsom served as President and Presiding Officer of the Alabama State Senate and also served on the National Association of Lieutenant Governors. He served under Governor H. Guy Hunt, the first Republican Alabama Governor since Reconstruction. Hunt and Folsom also happen to be from the same (Cullman) county.