Kay Ivey

Kay Ellen Ivey (born October 15, 1944) is an American politician who is the 54th governor of Alabama, serving since 2017.

Ivey was born on October 15, 1944, in Camden, Alabama, as the only child to Boadman Nettles (1913–1997) and Barbara Elizabeth Ivey (née Nettles; 1915–1998).

Her father, who served as an officer in the U.S. Army during World War II, worked with the Gees Bend community as part of the Farmers Home Administration.

Growing up in Camden, Ivey worked on her father's farm.

She graduated from Auburn University, where she was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta, becoming president of her first-year pledge class, and served in the Student Government Association all four years.

Ivey participated in a blackface skit in 1967, while a student at Auburn.

In 1967, Ivey moved to California following her first marriage and became a high school teacher for several years.

Following the end of her marriage, she returned to Alabama and landed a position with Merchants National Bank, where she launched a school relations program to promote financial literacy.

Ivey has been divorced twice and has no children.

In 1979, she was appointed by then-Governor Fob James to serve in the state cabinet.

She later served as the reading clerk of the Alabama House of Representatives between 1980 and 1982 and served as Assistant Director of the Alabama Development Office between 1982 and 1985.

In 1982, Ivey ran unsuccessfully for State Auditor as a Democrat.

She was Director of Government Affairs and Communications for the Alabama Commission on Higher Education from 1985 until 1998.

During the period after the program's inception in 1990, many of the state's colleges increased the cost of tuition at triple the inflation rate (or more), and combined with stock market downturns in 2000 and 2008, the program became financially unsustainable.

The Alabama state legislature subsequently bailed it out.

Originally a conservative Southern Democrat, Ivey became a member of the Republican Party in 2002.

She was the 38th Alabama state treasurer from 2003 to 2011 and the 30th lieutenant governor of Alabama from 2011 to 2017.

Ivey became Alabama's second female governor and the first female Republican governor upon the resignation of her predecessor, Robert J. Bentley.

Ivey took office as state treasurer in 2003, after defeating Stephen Black, the grandson of former United States Supreme Court justice Hugo Black, in the 2002 general election, by a margin of 52–48%.

In 2006, Ivey was reelected over Democrat Steve Segrest by a 60–40% margin.

She was the first Republican elected state treasurer since Reconstruction.

Ivey served as Treasurer during the near-complete financial collapse of the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) program.

Under this program tens of thousands of Alabama families were assured by the state that their investment in the program would guarantee their children four years of tuition at any state college.

In 2009, Ivey announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor in the 2010 elections, joining a crowded field of seven Republican candidates.

Under the Alabama Constitution, Ivey was not eligible to seek reelection to a third term as state treasurer in 2010.

Her name surfaced in press speculation about gubernatorial candidates in 2010.

In March 2010, Ivey abandoned her run for governor and qualified to run for lieutenant governor.

She ran against State Senator Hank Erwin of Montevallo and schoolteacher Gene Ponder of Baldwin County for the Republican nomination.

In the June 2010 primary election, Ivey won the nomination with 56.6% of the vote, to Erwin's 31.4% and Ponder's 12%.

In the November 2010 elections, in a Republican sweep of statewide offices, Ivey defeated Democratic incumbent Lieutenant Governor Jim Folsom Jr., who had sought an unprecedented fourth term.

Ivey received 764,112 votes to Folsom's 718,636.

In 2014, Ivey was challenged in the Republican primary by pastor Stan Cooke of Jefferson County.

Ivey received the support of major lobbying groups, such as the Business Council of Alabama, Alabama Retail Association, Alabama Farmers Federation, and Alabama Forestry Association.

Ivey defeated Cooke in the primary, with 257,588 votes (61.68%) to Cooke's 160,023 (38.32%).

In the general election, Ivey faced Democratic nominee James C. Fields, a former state legislator.

In November 2014, Ivey won reelection with 738,090 votes to Fields's 428,007.

She won a full term in 2018 by 19.1 percentage points against Democratic nominee Walt Maddox and was reelected by 37.7 percentage points over Democratic nominee Yolanda Flowers in 2022.

At 79, Ivey is the oldest currently serving governor in the United States.

When questioned about this in 2019 she initially claimed not to have taken part, but after a recording surfaced in which she discussed her participation, she admitted it.

In 2021, Ivey received an honorary Doctor of Letters from Jacksonville State University.