State Web Site

JAMES ELISHA FOLSOM JR. was born in Montgomery, Alabama on May 14, 1949. He received a bachelor's degree in political science and history from Jacksonville State University in 1974. He was elected to the Public Service Commission in 1979 and reelected in 1983. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1980. He was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1986 and reelected in 1990. On April 22, 1993, he was sworn in as governor of Alabama following Governor Guy Hunt's removal from office due to an conviction for state ethics law violations. Governor Folsom lost his bid for election to the governor's position in November 1994 to Fob James. His father was Alabama Governor James Elisha Folsom Sr. (1947-1951, 1955-1959).

Sources:

Alabama Department of Archives & History

Governors of the American States, Territories, and Commonwealths, National Governors' Conference, 1994.