1958 Alabama gubernatorial election

The 1958 Alabama gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1958. Incumbent Democrat Jim Folsom was term limited and could not seek a second consecutive term.

Democratic Party nomination
At this time Alabama was a de facto one-party state. Because of this, every Democratic Party nominee was considered safe for election. The real contest for governor took place during the primary.

Popular incumbent Governor Jim Folsom, a racial moderate, was barred from running for reelection, as Governors could not succeed themselves at the time. Therefore, the Democratic primary was an open contest.

Candidates

 * Laurie C. Battle, U.S. Representative
 * John G. Crommelin, retired Rear Admiral
 * W. E. Dodd
 * Shearen Elebash
 * Jimmy Faulkner, former State Senator and former Mayor of Bay Minette
 * James Gulatte
 * Karl Harrison
 * George C. Hawkins, State Representative
 * C. C. Owen
 * John Malcolm Patterson, Attorney General
 * Shorty Price
 * A. W. Todd, Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries
 * Billy Walker
 * George Wallace, Third Judicial Circuit Judge and former State Representative

The two front-runners, Patterson and Wallace, held deeply different positions on racial segregation issues. While Patterson, known primarily as crime-fighting attorney general, ran on a very segregationist platform and accepted an official endorsement from the Ku Klux Klan, Wallace, a close ally of Folsom, refused to cooperate with the KKK and was endorsed by the NAACP.

After the election, aide Seymore Trammell recalled Wallace saying, "Seymore, you know why I lost that governor's race? ... I was outniggered by John Patterson. And I'll tell you here and now, I will never be outniggered again."

Primary results
Primaries were held on June 3, 1958.

Runoff
Because none of the candidates won a majority, a runoff was held on June 24, 1958, in order to determine which candidate received the nomination.

Republican Party nomination
William Longshore, a former Republican Party nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 9th district (lost, winning 34.12% votes) won the gubernatorial nomination unopposed.

General election
After his defeat, George Wallace, who was a racial moderate, modified his public position in order to gain the white support necessary to win the next election.