Recently, I had several of Governor Kay Ivey’s closest friends and confidantes invite me to visit with them.

Over lunch, they posed the question to me, “Do you think Governor Ivey has become a legacy governor?”

My response was that she has been an outstanding governor, but I need to give some thought to the meaning of a “legacy” governor.

My perception over the years was that a legacy governor left an indelible, particular generational project that could be linked to their name for posterity.

My memory of governors only goes back 60 years and there are only three or four who have left that specific mark.

Our larger-than-life political giant of a governor, James E. “Big Jim” Folsom, paved all the rural roads in the state, so that the small farmers who lived on dirt roads could get their produce they cultivated all year to the market.

His creation of the Farm to Market Road Program gives him a legacy.

Big Jim’s son, Jim Folsom Jr., was governor for only three years, but he created a legacy as the Father of the Automotive Factory Boom in our state.

His landing the Mercedes Plant for Alabama was the impetus for making us the second largest automobile manufacturing state in America. It is now one of the largest economic engines in our state.

Governor George Wallace has numerous legacies. He is the most profound political figure in Alabama history. He was elected governor four times and his wife, Lurleen, another.

That record will never be matched. During those terms, he created a legacy in economic development and roads.

Probably his greatest accomplishment was the creation of the Alabama Community College System, which has become the mainstay for job creation and workforce development in the last decade for our state.

Governor Fob James could be called a legacy governor. He was elected governor two times, and not consecutively. He has the unique distinction of being elected governor in 1978 as a Democrat and again in 1990 as a Republican.

Fob has a legacy as governor of having the businessman’s insight to create a trust fund for the General Fund Budget. During his first term an abundance of oil reserves were discovered off Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

The state sold the oil rights to these reserves for a good amount of money. Fob convinced the legislature to save and preserve the corpus of the oil money in a “rainy day” fund entitled the Heritage Trust Fund. It has been a salvation for the beleaguered General Fund for years.

After several weeks of contemplating the question of whether Kay Ivey is a legacy governor, my response is a resounding and enthusiastic yes. Kay Ivey, in my estimation, is the best governor I have seen in my years of following and writing about Alabama political history.

First, Governor Kay Ivey will have been governor for a decade when she leaves office in January 2027. She will have been governor longer than anyone in state history other than George Wallace.

She is also the first female elected governor in her own right. In addition, she is the first female Republican governor in history.

Most legacy governors have created their places in history through roads, as is the case with Wallace and Big Jim. Therefore, Kay Ivey knew that roads were the economic engine that drives the growth of jobs and economic expansion. She took the bull by the horns early in her tenure and did a masterful job of corralling the votes in the legislature and stewarding the passage of a gasoline tax increase to maintain and sustain our state roads, bridges, and waterways in Alabama.

This legislation, entitled “Rebuild Alabama,” which passed in 2019, has generated over $1 billion in revenue, paving the way for 500 new road and bridge projects reaching all 67 counties. This long overdue generational improvement of our state’s aging roads, bridge system, and state docks is a legacy in itself.

This infrastructure program has led to another Kay Ivey legacy in economic development. Governor Ivey’s administration has spearheaded a record breaking $55 billion in new capital investment and the creation of over 93,000 jobs during her tenure as governor. Furthermore, Governor Ivey’s appointments have been sterling and judicious, especially her judicial appointments.

The most important thing that can be said about Kay Ivey’s decade as Governor is that she has been a steady “Captain” of the Ship of State. She has brought stability, honesty and integrity to Alabama government. She is solid as a rock. Maybe she should be referred to as “Captain Ivey,” rather than “Meemaw.”

Kay Ivey is a legacy governor.

See you next week.

Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at [email protected].