[3][4][5] Her father, who served as an officer in the U.S. Army during World War II, worked with the Gees Bend community as part of the Farmers Home Administration.

She graduated from Auburn University, where she was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta, becoming president of her first-year pledge class,[8] and served in the Student Government Association all four years.

[8] Following the end of her marriage, she returned to Alabama and landed a position with Merchants National Bank, where she launched a school relations program to promote financial literacy.

[26] She ran against State Senator Hank Erwin of Montevallo and schoolteacher Gene Ponder of Baldwin County for the Republican nomination.

[28] In the November 2010 elections, in a Republican sweep of statewide offices, Ivey defeated Democratic incumbent Lieutenant Governor Jim Folsom Jr., who had sought an unprecedented fourth term.

[35] In April 2017, Ivey signed a bill into law that barred judges from overruling a jury's recommendation on the death penalty in sentencing in capital murder cases.

"[47] Ivey stated on November 17 that although she had no reason to disbelieve the allegations, she intended to vote for Moore to protect the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, a statement for which she was criticized.

[51] On December 28 Ivey and Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill certified the senatorial election result despite an attempt by the Moore campaign to delay certification over unsubstantiated accusations of voter fraud.

[52] In March 2020, Ivey signed off on the execution of Nathaniel Woods, a man accused of orchestrating the killings of three police officers, to proceed.

Ivey responded to criticism, saying she believed Woods was an "integral participant in the intentional murder of these three officers" and calling him a "known drug dealer".

[58] On April 6, 2018, Ivey signed a bill exempting economic development professionals from registering as lobbyists under the Alabama ethics law.

[59] On April 9, Ivey signed a bill extending the reach of the Simplified Sellers Use Tax to capture purchases from third-party vendors selling products through Amazon and other online marketplaces.

"[62] In October 2018, Ivey announced her intent to form an advisory council with the purpose of studying ways to improve science, technology, engineering and math instruction in schools to meet an expectation of strong job demands over the following decade.

Ivey said that STEM-related jobs were expected to grow faster than most other forms of employment while paying a median wage roughly twice as large as jobs in other fields and that the Governor's Advisory Council for Excellence in STEM would include educators and representatives of government, business and industry who would give her a comprehensive report on the matter by the end of the year.

She said that although she supported the state's "rich diversity", she wanted to prevent people on college campuses from using "their liberal political movement counter to what the majority of Alabamians believe.”[64] Ivey supported the May 2024 Education Trust Fund budget passed by the Alabama Legislature, which she argued "wisely invests in the spectrum of education" and would jumpstart "priority projects like the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences.

"[65] In May 2017, Ivey signed House Bill 24, which would permit religious agencies to refuse to place an adopted child in an LGBTQ family.

[67] The bill, HB 391, sponsored by Representative Scott Stadthagen, bans K-12 sports teams from participating in trans-inclusive athletic events.

The bill was amended in the Senate to prevent discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through fifth grade, modeled after Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act.

"[74] In August 2018, after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that blocked the Alabama Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Act, Ivey reflected on her support for the state law while serving as lieutenant governor and said, "we should not let this discourage our steadfast commitment to protect the lives of the unborn, even if that means taking this case to the U.S. Supreme Court."

"[76] On May 15, 2019, Ivey signed the more restrictive House Bill 314, which intended to criminalize abortion as of November 2019, with the exception of cases where the mother's life is under threat or the fetus might not survive.

"[82] In March 2018, Ivey announced that Alabama would seek permission to put work or job-training requirements on the Medicaid benefits for roughly 75,000 able-bodied adults whose incomes were just a few hundred dollars a month.

She called the approval "a significant step in our efforts to transform the delivery of services to Medicaid recipients" and said it was her goal "to ensure that all Alabamians receive high-quality health care, no matter their economic status.

[88] She was initially reluctant to issue a stay-at-home order,[89] but bowed to pressure from Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth, among others, who criticized Ivey's pandemic response as inadequate.

[96] In May 2024, Ivey signed into law a bill that criminalizes the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create materially deceptive media in election campaigns.

[101] During her campaign, Ivey released an ad promoting the unfounded conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election had been "stolen" from Donald Trump.

[103][104] Shortly after being inaugurated for her second full term as governor in January 2023, Ivey signed an executive order aiming to promote transparency in state government by requiring agencies to respond to public records requests.

[105] The same month, the Alabama Department of Transportation acquired an emergency order to prevent the release of communications between its director, John Cooper, and Ivey's office.

Ivey signed an amicus curiae filing in support of Cooper's efforts to suppress the release of the communication records with her office.

[106][107][108] In October 2018, Ivey met with Vice President Mike Pence when the latter came to Alabama for a National Republican Senatorial Committee event and the pair discussed getting aid to Alabamians affected by Hurricane Michael.