Reuben Kolb

Reuben Francis Kolb (1839–1918) was an Alabama politician. Kolb ran unsuccessfully for governor of Alabama thrice, in 1890, 1892 and 1894, first as a Democrat and then as a Populist. He also served as the state's commissioner of agriculture twice, in 1887 and between 1910-1914.

Kolb was born in Eufaula, Barbour County. He fought in the American Civil War, commanding a Confederate artillery unit. His uncle was the Alabama governor John Gill Shorter. Kolb was active in the Farmer's Alliance.

While a Democrat, Kolb generally opposed the policies of the Redeemers (conservative Southern Democrats), and styled himself as a Jeffersonian Democrat. Unlike the Redeemers, who sought to disenfranchise black voters, Kolb usually supported their political rights, at least initially. However, Kolb ended up supporting the Alabama Constitution of 1901 which took away the vote from blacks, as well as many poor whites.^[1]

The elections he lost in 1892 and 1894 (to Thomas Goode Jones and William C. Oates, respectively) are considered to have been some of the most corrupt in Alabama's history, with widespread vote tampering and fraud.

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