No, George Wallace was not a Republican.

     The right wing media, led by FOX, is attacking an article in GQ Magazine because the author identified the late Alabama Governor George Wallace as a Republican.
     She was wrong, of course.
     During almost all of the years George Wallace was Governor, there was virtually NO Republican Party in Alabama! There was no need for the party, since the Democratic Party was even more conservative. And Wallace fit right in.

Emory Folmar

     He was elected the last time in 1982 as the Democratic Nominee. His opponent in the November General Election was former Montgomery Mayor Emory Folmar, who in some ways was even more of a right-winger. Wallace had apologized in public for his racist past, and visited the Dexter Avenue Memorial Church. In November, Wallace received 650,538 (57.64%) votes against Folmar's 440,815 (39.06%). Wallace won a third of the black vote.



 

George Wallace, III (aka Junior)

      This error happens again and again, mostly by writers who don't know Alabama politics and assume he was a Republican. Let me point out that his son, George, III (usually called George Wallace, Junior), ran several times for state office as both  a Democrat and as a Republican...once that party started to gain strength. He was elected State Treasurer and to a position on the Public Service Commission.