Associated Press

MONTGOMERY — Democratic Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. said Wednesday he will run for re-election next year rather than seek to return to the governor’s office he held 15 years ago.

Folsom’s decision avoids a matchup with Democratic U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, who is trying to become Alabama’s first black governor. It may also provide an opportunity for another Democrat, state Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, to run for governor.

“This decision has nothing to do with any other candidate who may be running for governor. It’s a personal decision,” Folsom said in his Statehouse office Wednesday.

Governor from April 1993 until January 1995, Folsom is a member of a prominent political family famed for a relaxed, low-key political style both in and out of the state’s highest office. The 59-year-old veteran from Cullman announced his long-expected decision Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press and The Birmingham News.

Larry Powell, a professor of political communication at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said Davis and Folsom are the two biggest names in the Alabama Democratic Party, and Folsom’s decision avoids a primary battle that would sacrifice one of those two names.

“There was a perception Folsom may be the best Democratic candidate in the general election, but it might be hard for him to win the Democratic primary because of the large African-American vote in the primary,” Powell said.

Davis praised Folsom after being informed of the decision.

“He will be a valued part of the Democratic ticket as lieutenant governor, and if both of us are successful in 2010, he will be invited to be a genuine partner in my efforts to revive Alabama’s economy,” Davis said.

David Lanoue, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama, said the decision is a boost for Davis.

“Folsom, because of his history and his family’s history, was the one candidate best suited to challenge Artur Davis for the African-American vote in the Democratic primary,” Lanoue said.

He said Folsom’s decision will also impact Alabama’s Republican Party, with some candidates eyeing the lieutenant governor’s post now shifting to other races.

On the Democratic side, Sparks cannot run for a third term as agriculture commissioner and indicated he will run for governor. He said Wednesday he will seek a statewide office next year and will announce his decision Friday.

“I will not be running against Jim Folsom,” he said.

Folsom is serving his third term as lieutenant governor, a part-time position that includes presiding over the Alabama Senate. He said he received much encouragement to run for governor, but did not wish to

the state’s highest office.

Folsom said the Senate is working better this year than the last two years, when it was sharply divided along party lines, and he wants to try to continue improving that.

“I genuinely enjoy the job of lieutenant governor,” he said.

Folsom is the second prominent Democrat to announce he won’t run for governor. House Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, came to the same decision in January.

Jockeying for the governor’s race is more intense than usual because Republican Gov. Bob Riley has served two terms and can’t run again next year. In addition to Davis, the only other major Democrat who has announced is Greenville business Tim James, son of two-term Gov. Fob James.

The dean of the Senate, Bobby Denton, D-Muscle Shoals, said he was surprised but pleased by Folsom’s decision. He said Folsom’s calm manner is well-suited to presiding over the Senate.

“He may have made the best decision to use all his experience to try to bring the sides in the Senate together,” he said.

Folsom, son of two-term Gov. James E. “Big Jim” Folsom, was elected to the Alabama Public Service Commission in 1978. In 1986, he was elected lieutenant governor and re-elected in 1990. In April 1993, he moved up to governor when Gov. Guy Hunt was convicted of an ethics violation.

Folsom ran for a full term as governor in 1994, but lost to Republican Fob James. Folsom stayed out of politics for 12 years and concentrated on his Birmingham investment business before successfully running for lieutenant governor in 2006.