1. Lucy Mae Bruner Baxley Smith was an American politician who served from 2003 to 2007 as the 28th lieutenant governor of Alabama and from 2008 to 2012 as president of the Alabama Public Service Commission.
21 Facts About Lucy Baxley
1. 2.
Lucy Baxley was the first woman to hold the state's office of lieutenant governor.
3.
In 2008, Baxley was elected President of the Alabama Public Service Commission, and was the only Democrat to win statewide that year.
4.
Until Doug Jones's swearing in after winning a 2017 US Senate special election, Lucy Baxley had been the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Alabama.
5.
Lucy Baxley attended Auburn University at Montgomery but did not graduate.
6.
In 1994, Lucy Baxley was elected Alabama State Treasurer, in which capacity she pursued office modernization, including the first personal computers for staffers.
7.
Lucy Baxley worked for expansion of the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Program.
8.
In 2002, Lucy Baxley defeated Bill Armistead in the election as elected lieutenant governor, having received more votes than either candidate for governor that year.
9.
Lucy Baxley served as a delegate to the 1996 Democratic National Convention, which met in Chicago to renominate the Clinton-Gore ticket, which lost in Alabama.
10.
In 2005, Lucy Baxley announced plans to run for governor in 2006.
11.
Lucy Baxley was an underdog in the general election against incumbent Republican Bob Riley, trailing by as much as 30 points in some polls.
12.
Lucy Baxley proposed a raise in the minimum wage of $1 per hour, which generated some criticism from her opponents.
13.
Lucy Baxley was heavily outspent in the campaign by Riley and pointed to Riley's receipt of large contributions from recipients of industrial development subsidies.
14.
Lucy Baxley was then defeated by Cavanaugh in 2012 during her bid for reelection.
15.
In each of her campaigns for office, Baxley utilized media bearing the title of the iconic CBS situation comedy starring Lucille Ball, I Love Lucy.
16.
Lucy Baxley was admitted to UAB hospital in Birmingham on November 23,2006, Thanksgiving Day.
17.
Lucy Baxley had become ill Wednesday evening, while visiting her family in Birmingham.
18.
Lucy Baxley first married at the age of eighteen; later, she married Bill Lucy Baxley, who from 1971 to 1979 was the state attorney general and later from 1983 to 1987 the lieutenant governor.
19.
Bill Lucy Baxley became involved with another woman in a widely publicized affair, and the couple divorced in 1987.
20.
From 1996 until her death in 2016, Lucy Baxley was married to Jim Smith.
21.
Lucy Baxley died at her home in Birmingham, Alabama on October 14,2016 at age 78.