GOP Victory Is First in 112 Years : Hunt Wins Alabama Governorship

Republican Guy Hunt, a Cullman County cattleman and Amway distributor, won the fiercely contested Alabama governor’s race Tuesday, becoming the first GOP chief executive of this “Heart of Dixie” state since Reconstruction.

Hunt, 53, whose only previous experience in elected office is as a county probate judge, triumphed over Democratic Lt. Gov. Bill Baxley, 44, a former two-term attorney general who had been regarded as the political heir apparent to outgoing four-term Gov. George C. Wallace.

Baxley publicly conceded the race about an hour and a half after the polls closed, when, with more than half of the state’s precincts reporting, Hunt held a lead of nearly 100,000 votes.

Widens Lead

The lead continued to widen. With 80% of precincts counted, Hunt had 586,583 votes to Baxley’s 464,831.

Hunt’s victory capped the most controversial governor’s race in recent Alabama history and gave a big boost to the Republican Party’s hopes of building a genuine two-party system in this heavily Democratic state.

“Alabama today has sent a strong message to the whole country that Alabama is ready to take a position of leadership in the South and the nation,” Hunt said in his victory speech. He also praised Wallace, who is retiring from politics because of ill health, calling him “truly a legend in his own time.”

Hunt, who carried only three of Alabama’s 67 counties in his 1978 gubernatorial bid, had been considered the longest of long-shot candidates after winning the GOP primary in early June.

Lonely Primary Race

Only 30,000 GOP voters turned out for the primary, in which Hunt handily defeated his only rival, businessman Doug Carter. By comparison, nearly 1 million voters took part in the Democratic primary, traditionally viewed as “the only election that really counts” in this state where Democrats had held the governorship for 112 years.

Initially, the state Republican Party offered Hunt little help and less money, preferring to concentrate its resources on Sen. Jeremiah Denton’s reelection bid. But Hunt’s prospects made a dramatic reversal after a bitter feud erupted among Democrats over the outcome of their party’s primary runoff in late June.

In that election, Atty. Gen. Charles Graddick, a conservative and former Republican, edged out Baxley by a margin of 8,756--less than 1% of the total ballots. However, Graddick’s victory was overturned a few weeks later by a three-judge federal panel.

Ruling Against Graddick

Ruling in a suit brought by a black Pike County commissioner and his wife, the judges declared that Graddick had violated federal election laws by encouraging Republican voters to cross over and vote for him in the Democratic runoff.

The judges ordered the Democratic Party either to certify Baxley as the victor or to hold a new runoff election.

Over vociferous objections from Graddick, a Democratic Party subcommittee declared Baxley the nominee on the grounds that Graddick’s victory margin was achieved solely through the illegal GOP votes.

Graddick challenged the decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, keeping state Democratic politics in a turmoil that has not yet abated.

Many Voters Mad

“What the party did was legal, but, in the eyes of many Democratic voters, it was highly improper,” said Margaret Latimer, an Auburn University political scientist. “A whole lot of people felt cheated out of their votes. Some said they were so mad that they were going to go out this year and pull the straight Republican lever.”

Graddick launched a write-in campaign for governor but abandoned it less than a week before the election after it became clear that his campaign might split the conservative vote and boost Baxley’s chances.

As Hunt’s star ascended, Baxley sought to portray the Republican as too inexperienced and too unqualified to handle the reins of state government. Baxley advertisements played on Hunt’s lack of a college education and described him as a vacuum cleaner salesman.

But in a state where the majority of citizens have only a high school diploma and a salesman is often viewed as a more honorable professional than a lawyer or politician, Baxley’s attack appeared to hurt his cause more than it helped.