MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Kay Ivey (R-Ala.) received a personal phone call from President Donald Trump Thursday evening in which he offered his personal congratulations on her new job. Gov. Ivey’s office shared the personal moment with her constituents with a twitter photo depicting the conservation between the two leaders.
This evening Governor Ivey received a call from @POTUS congratulating her on becoming Governor of Alabama. pic.twitter.com/YoEXyJqcFQ
— Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) April 21, 2017
While not much is known about the phone call other than the fact that the president congratulated Ivey, it is pretty safe to say Trump was unlikely a fan of her predecessor, Robert Bentley. During the course of the presidential campaign, Bentley criticized Trump and endorsed one of his campaign rivals: John Kasich.
RELATED: Get to know Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey, the next Governor of Alabama
Ivey assumed office following Bentley’s resignation, which came as a result of a year-long scandal surrounding his alleged affair with a political advisor and his attempts to use state resources to cover it up. Bentley took a plea deal admitting to the accusations that required him to resign and pay back money to the state.
In her short time in office, Ivey has fired Jon Mason – the husband of Rebekah Caldwell Mason – from his post in the governor’s office of faith based initiatives and signed a bill ending the practice of judicial override in death penalty cases.
In 2011, Ivey became the first Republican woman to hold the office of lieutenant governor. She safely won reelection in 2014 with over 63 percent of the vote. Now, she’s the first female governor of the state since Lurleen Wallace in 1986, but under largely different circumstances. Her term will mark the first time a Republican woman has ever occupied the Governor’s Mansion.
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