Establishing a law practice in
Albany, Busbee served nine terms in the
Georgia House of Representatives and was floor leader for Governor
Carl Sanders. In 1967, Busbee was one of thirty
Democrats in the legislature who voted for the
Republican Howard Callaway in the disputed
1966 gubernatorial race, rather than the Democratic nominee
Lester Maddox, a
segregationist from
Atlanta. The legislature, acting under the 1824 Georgia Constitution, upheld by the
United States Supreme Court, chose Maddox 182 to 66. In
1974, Busbee won the Democratic
nomination for governor in
Jimmy Carter's final year in that office. In the party runoff, he defeated, 551,106 (59.9 percent) to 369,608 (40.1 percent), former governor and sitting
Lieutenant Governor Lester Maddox, the man whom Busbee had voted against in the legislative election for governor some seven years earlier. In the fall of 1974, Busbee handily defeated
Ronnie Thompson, the first Republican to have served as
mayor of
Macon. Two years later voters approved a wholesale revision of the Georgia Constitution. As a result of these changes, Busbee became the state's first governor to serve two consecutive four-year terms. Lt. Gov.
Zell Miller, who wanted to run for governor in 1978, opposed the constitutional amendment, but it was carried anyway. Busbee won election to his second term in
1978 with an easy victory over Republican
Rodney Cook of Atlanta. ==Personal life==