The sitting Governor of Florida is Charlie Crist, who was elected in 2006 as a Republican. Florida had a long history of electing Democratic governors, but in recent years governors have been predominantly Republican.
The Democrats won every gubernatorial election from 1876 to 1964, with the exception of the 1916 election, when the race was won by the Prohibition Party. The Republicans won the Governor’s race in 1966 and 1986, but the Democrats still dominated for the rest of the century. Florida is a state that has shifted from Democrats to Republicans as the civil rights movement and the ‘southern strategy’ saw conservative white southerners move away from the Democrats to the Republicans.
In 1998, Lieutenant Governor Buddy MacKay lost to Jeb Bush, son of former President George H W Bush and brother of future President George W Bush. MacKay briefly served as Governor after the death of his predecessor in December 1998.
Bush served two full terms in Florida, but was prohibited from running for a third term in 2006. He was succeeded by Florida Attorney-General Charlie Crist (R).
In 2010, Crist decided to run for the open Senate seat, rather than seek a second term as Governor. Crist’s primary campaign did not go well, with his rival Marco Rubio convincingly beating him in primary polls. Crist was a relatively moderate Republican who had often resisted taking positions for partisan advantage. In April 2010 he left the Republican party to stand as an independent for the Senate in the face of poor primary polling, and he is serving out the remainder of his gubernatorial term as an independent.
The Republican gubernatorial primary was won by Rick Scott, a campaigner against government-run healthcare with links to the Tea Party movement. Scott defeated Florida Attorney-General Bill McCollum 46% to 43%. The Democratic primary was convincingly won by Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.
Scott led over Sink in most polls until early August, but since then Sink has taken the lead, winning most polls over Scott for the last month. She has won some with large margins, although others only have her slightly in front.
Florida is a not a very southern state, as different from the stereotypical south as is the gold coast from rural Qld. Like Texas. Republicans competitive in Florida in 1920s and 1950s.
” Crist was a relatively moderate Republican who had often resisted taking positions for partisan advantage.”
Seriously?!?!? Come on now, Crist is one of the most populist pollies of them all!!!!!
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