As mentioned last week, the race for Lt. Governor will be one of the best on the ballot next year. It will pit two very popular constitutional officeholders striving to capture another secondary constitutional office. Secretary of State Wes Allen and Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate will be the two horses in this contest. It is […]

One of the best races in this blockbuster election year will be for Lt. Governor. In bygone years, this was a much more powerful position than it is today. For about 50 years, from the 1950’s through the 1990’s, the Lt. Governor controlled the State Senate.  The Constitution gives the power to the State House […]

For the last few years after every Civic Group or Chamber banquet I spoke to, I would typically open the floor for questions, and invariably the most prominent inquiry was who is going to run for Governor in 2026. Alabamians love the Governor’s race. Always have and it stays the same. Also, they seemed to […]

As early as last Thanksgiving, there were smoke signals coming out of Washington that our popular Senior Senator, Tommy Tuberville, was going to forgo an easy re-election jaunt to a second, six-year term in the United States Senate, to run for Governor of Alabama in 2026. The coveted Governor’s office was going to be open […]

Those of us who follow Alabama politics had been awaiting late May like kids waiting for Santa Claus at Christmas. We knew May 19 would be the golden opening date for candidates to begin making their announcements for Governor and other statewide Constitutional offices. Why? Because the law stipulates that candidates can begin raising campaign […]

A political stalwart in our state, George McMillan, passed away Easter weekend at 81 in Birmingham. George was born for politics in Alabama. He was a born leader. He had an exuberant, vivacious personality that people gravitated to and made it difficult not to like him. It was apropos that his funeral was really like […]

Like many of you, I have lived in Alabama all of my life. Therefore, I am an avid college football fan. As a boy, I followed Major League Baseball, but as an adult, I barely watch or pay attention to professional sports. However, I feel compelled for some reason, I guess as an American Patriotic […]

The recently completed 2025 Regular Session has concluded successfully. Anytime you record solid balanced budgets, you have succeeded. Both the Education Budget and General Fund Budget are sound, thanks to the good work of the Budget Chairmen. Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), Representative Danny Garrett (R-Trussville), Senator Greg Albritton (R-Escambia), and Representative Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville) have […]

When Republicans finally took control of the Alabama Legislature in 2010, they put a conservative stamp on Alabama’s legislative process and lawmaking. They have made sure that Alabamians, and for that matter the rest of the country, know that Alabama is a ruby red Republican state, both socially and fiscally. A good bit of the […]

You would have to be living under a rock to not be aware that two of our state’s metropolitan areas have a serious problem with violent crime. Montgomery and Birmingham have become crime-ridden war zones that resemble third world countries like Mexico, run by drug cartels. The rampant, open-ended violence and cavalier murders in Montgomery […]

Folks, 2026 is shaping up as one of the best political years in memory in Alabama. The Governor’s, Lt. Governor’s, and Attorney General’s offices and maybe one of our U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs with no incumbent. The jockeying has begun in earnest for all these posts. The Attorney General’s position is a […]

Our Alabama Supreme Court is a stellar group. All nine of our Alabama justices are Republicans. They are conservative Republicans, and that is not bad.

April 15 is traditionally known as the deadline to file your tax return. This time last year, Alabama political insiders had marked their calendars as that being the date that our 2026 political season would begin.

Over the past ten years, the following question has been posed to me, “Flowers, why in the world does Alabama not have a lottery, and why can’t we receive the revenue from gambling that every one of our surrounding states and almost every state in America thrives on?”  Over this past decade, I have spoken […]

As the Legislative Session evolves, I find myself missing my ole friend Mac McArthur around the Statehouse. We would visit in the halls and sometimes sit together in the gallery. He would be busier than a one-armed paper hanger as he was always having to work on legislative matters for the state employees. We would […]

For the casual observer, taking a cursory look at our political leaders reveals that may we have some pretty old folks in positions of power. Our new President, Donald Trump, is not a spring chicken at 78. Our own Alabama Governor Kay Ivey is 80 and goes by the monicker “Mee Maw.” However, a new […]

This Sunday leaders from throughout Alabama and the entire country will commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March and the infamous Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It was a momentous occasion and needs memorializing.  Make no mistake about it, this event led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights […]

Our Alabama Public Television system was one of the first public television networks in the nation. Today it is one of the best. They continue to produce premiere documentaries, especially surrounding Alabama history. Under the auspices of Director/Producers Pete Conroy and Seth Johnson, they are set to release “A Legacy of Progress. The Jim Folsom […]

When the 2025 legislative year begins in February, State Senator Jabo Waggoner (R-Vestavia) will begin his 52nd year in the Alabama Legislature. He is the longest-serving legislator in Alabama history. Jabo Waggoner is more than a senior member of the State Senate; he is one of the most accomplished senators in state history. Jabo Waggoner […]

On Friday, October 4, 2024, the FBI Campus in Huntsville hosted a small audience for the dedication ceremony at the Richard Shelby Center for Innovation and Advanced Training. The audience included retired-U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), FBI Director Christopher Wray, U.S. Senator Katie Boyd Britt (R-Ala.), current and former-Members of Congress, four federal judges, business […]

My tradition is to make my year end column a tribute to major political figures that passed away during the year. My column last week did that, however, there were an inordinately large number of political leaders who passed away in 2024. Therefore, this week, I have a second tribute to two of the giants […]

As is my custom, my year-end columns highlight the lives of legendary Alabama political figures who passed away during the year. Elbert Peters, a Republican Party icon, passed away in the waning days of 2023 at age 90.

During the last session of the legislature, Governor Kay Ivey, Speaker of the House, Nathaniel Ledbetter, State Senate President Pro Tem, Greg Reed, along with the business leaders of the state made the “Working for Alabama” program their priority.

Our legendary governor of the 1940s and 1950s was the giant, cartoonish character James E. “Big Jim” Folsom. Ole Big Jim ran against the big businesses of Birmingham – big banks, utilities, and U.S. Steel – and labeled them the “Big Mules.” He campaigned on the back of a flatbed truck in every hamlet in […]