Alabama governor term limits allow a person to serve two consecutive four-year terms, for a maximum of eight straight years in office. After the second term, the governor must sit out at least one full four-year term before becoming eligible to run again. There is no lifetime cap on total terms, so a former governor who takes the required break can return.
Length of a Term
Each gubernatorial term runs four years. The new term begins on the first Monday after the second Tuesday in January following the election, and the governor serves until a successor is elected and qualified.1Justia. Alabama Constitution Amendment 282 Ratified Alabama holds its gubernatorial elections in even-numbered years that fall between presidential elections.
What Amendment 282 Says
The two-term rule is set by Amendment 282 to the Alabama Constitution, which provides that the governor “shall be eligible to succeed himself in office, but no person shall be eligible to succeed himself for more than one additional term.”1Justia. Alabama Constitution Amendment 282 Ratified A sitting governor can run once for re-election. After winning and serving that second consecutive term, the governor is barred from the next election. The same rule applies to the other statewide executive officers listed in Article V, not the governor alone.
Coming Back After Sitting Out
The restriction is on consecutive service, not lifetime service. Once a former governor sits out one full four-year term, nothing in the constitution prevents that person from running again.2Library of Congress. Guide to Law Online: U.S. Alabama – Executive A person could, in principle, serve eight years, sit out four, and serve another eight.
George Wallace is the clearest example. He served as governor across three separate stretches: 1963–1967, 1971–1979, and 1983–1987.3National Governors Association. Gov. George Corley Wallace His career also shows where the current rule came from. When Wallace was first elected in 1962, the original Section 116 barred governors from succeeding themselves at all, which is why his wife Lurleen Wallace ran and won in 1966 in his place. Amendment 282, ratified in 1968, loosened the rule to allow one self-succession.4Ballotpedia. Governor of Alabama
Partial Terms and Successors
If the governor dies, resigns, or is removed, the lieutenant governor becomes governor for the remainder of the term, with a special election or statutory line of succession filling the office in other scenarios.5Justia. Alabama Constitution Section 127
Amendment 282 does not say whether a partial term served by a successor counts against the two-consecutive-term limit. The text speaks only in terms of eligibility to “succeed himself” and is silent on partial-term scenarios. If the question ever arose, a court would need to interpret the provision.
How the Limit Could Be Changed
Because the two-consecutive-term rule sits in the Alabama Constitution rather than in ordinary statute, changing it requires a constitutional amendment. The legislature must approve the proposed amendment, and Alabama voters must then ratify it by majority vote in a statewide referendum.4Ballotpedia. Governor of Alabama A simple legislative majority cannot do it alone. Alabama’s constitution is one of the most frequently amended in the country, but the governor’s term-limit structure has stood essentially unchanged since 1968.