Former Governor Guy Hunt Dies

January 30, 2009
The man most people credit with turning Alabama into a two party state, died Friday afternoon in a Birmingham hospital. 

Former Alabama Governor Guy Hunt, of Holly Pond, died at 2:55 p.m. in Trinity hospital according to a family spokesman.  Hunt was 75 and had suffered from lung cancer for several years.

Hunt was elected Alabama's first Republican governor in 113 years in 1986 and was re-elected in 1990.  He was forced from office in 1993 after being convicted of alleged improper use of campaign funds and was pardoned in 1998 after paying restitution.  After the pardon he made unsuccessful bids for governor and for the state Senate.

Hunt was born June 17, 1933 in Holly Pond.  He enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Korean War.  After discharge in 1956 he returned to Alabama and to farming.  He was ordained as a Primitive Baptist minister in 1958.  He married the former Helen Chambers in 1951.  They had four children.  Helen Hunt died November 22, 2004

Hunt first ran for office in 1962 but lost his bid for the Alabama Senate.  He was elected Cullman County Probate Judge in 1964 and served in that office until 1976.  He served as state chairman of Ronald Reagan's presidential campaigns in 1976 and 1980.  He ran for governor in 1978 but lost to then Democrat Fob James.  He was appointed as the State Director of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee by Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Hunt was elected governor in 1986 after a particularly divisive battle between Democratic candidates Charles Graddick and Bill Baxley.  Graddick won the Democratic Primary but Baxley challenged the election claiming that Republicans had crossed over to vote for Graddick.  Baxley was eventually chosen as the Democratic candidate by the state party.  The Democratic party decision created a huge backlash among Alabama voters and Hunt, who most thought had no chance won the General election by a landslide.  He won re-election in 1990.

Hunt never lost touch with his roots. He was well known for his love of cattle farming and his frequent trips to the Cullman Stockyards, even after being elected governor.  He also continued to preach on a regular basis at the two Primitive Baptist churches that he served prior to his election.  It was common for the governor, his family, and security staff to pay surprise visits to local North Alabama restaurants after Sunday preaching engagements.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions released the following statement Friday afternoon after learning of Governor Hunt's death:

“I am deeply saddened to learn of the death of Gov. Hunt.”

“Gov. Hunt loved Alabama and he gave his heart and soul to it. He came out of the soil of the state. He grew up on a farm and in the church—just as so many folks in Alabama have. He was a deeply religious man—a minister of the gospel—and a steadfast and consistent warrior for the values that he held dear. They were the old values, and he never departed from them.

“Gov. Hunt played a pivotal role in the political victories of President Ronald Reagan as one of his top southern leaders. He worked tirelessly on Reagan’s unsuccessful l976 bid and his successful 1980 campaign, chairing Alabama’s delegation to the Republican convention.

“When Gov. Hunt was elected governor, he assembled one of the state’s best cabinets and brought reform and efficiency to department after department. Many thought that his first election victory was an accident of history, but after an outstanding performance during his first term, Alabama voters rewarded him with a resounding re-election. He was one of the Alabama’s most important Republican leaders of the 20th century, being its first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Not only was his deep connection with the average, working-class Alabamian a source of political strength, but it was also a major factor in the growth of the Republican Party in Alabama. He was clearly a historic figure in that political transformation. He brought the Republican Party from the country clubs and the boardrooms to the rural communities and the workplace.

Hunt is  survived by, his wife, Anne, include: his son, Keith Hunt; and three daughters, Pam Hunt, Sherrie Williams and Lynn Harris.