1978 Florida gubernatorial election

none related races 1978 United States gubernatorial elections January 2025 September 2023 1978 Florida gubernatorial election Florida 1900 Presidential no 1974 Florida gubernatorial election 1974 1982 Florida gubernatorial election 1982 November 7, 1978 File:Portrait of Governor Bob Graham (cropped).jpg 150x150px Bob Graham Florida Democratic Party Wayne Mixson 1,406,580 55.59% File:Jack Eckerd (cropped).jpg Jack Eckerd Republican Party of Florida Paula Hawkins 1,123,888 44.41% 1978 Florida gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 300px County resultsGraham: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% #3933e5 80–90% Eckerd: #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% Governor Reubin Askew Democratic Party (United States) Bob Graham Democratic Party (United States) The 1978 Florida gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1978. Democratic nominee Bob Graham was elected, defeating Republican nominee Jack Eckerd with 55.59% of the vote. Primary elections Primary elections were held on September 12, 1978. The Democratic runoff was held on October 5, 1978. Democratic primary Candidates Leroy Eden, bar owner Maria Kay Bob Graham, Florida state senator from Miami Lakes Wayne Mixson, state representative from Marianna Claude R. Kirk Jr., 36th governor of Florida Mary L. Singleton, former director of the Florida Division of Elections and Jacksonville City Council member Robert Shevin, 31st Florida attorney general Jim Glisson, state senator from Tavares Bruce A. Smathers, 18th secretary of state of Florida Charles W. Boyd, state representative from Hollywood Hans Tanzler, mayor of Jacksonville Manuel "Manolo" Arques, Miami real estate and insurance executive James H. Williams, 11th lieutenant governor of Florida Betty Castor, state senator from Tampa Seven tickets ran for the Democratic nomination for governor of Florida. Jim Williams, the lieutenant governor, ran for governor with former Florida state senator Betty Castor of Tampa, as his running mate. Hans G. Tanzler, the mayor of Jacksonville, ran with Manuel "Manolo" Arques, a Cuban-American real estate and insurance executive from Miami. Florida secretary of state Bruce Smathers (who resigned to run) ran with state representative Charles W. Boyd. Claude R. Kirk Jr. of Palm Beach, who was the Republican governor of Florida from 1967 to 1971, returned to the party he left 18 years prior, switching his party affiliation to Democratic on July 5, 1978 (the month prior re-registering as an independent and launching an abortive signature drive to get on the ballot as an independent. He chose as his running mate Mary L. Singleton, the former director of the Florida Division of Elections and the first black woman to serve on the Jacksonville City Council.Slaughter, Thomas E. "Shevin TV Ad Kills Truce." Associated Press, October 3, 1978. Results thumb|center| #81d0d0 Shevin #ecfafa 20–30% #daf5f5 30–40% #ace1e1 40–50% #81d0d0 50–60% #678cd7 Graham #dee8fb 30–40% #b4c7ec 40–50% #8da9e2 50–60% #678cd7 60–70% #d79346 Tanzler #fcf0e2 20–30% #f9e1c6 30–40% #e66f9e Williams #fcebf2 20–30% #e66f9e 50–60% Democratic primary resultshttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=66037 FL Governor, 1978 - D Primary Our Campaigns 5 April 2020Florida Handbook 1985-86 604 Robert Shevin Democratic Party (United States) 364,732 35.15 Bob Graham Democratic Party (United States) 261,972 25.25 Hans Tanzler Democratic Party (United States) 124,706 12.02 James H. Williams Democratic Party (United States) 124,427 11.99 Bruce A. Smathers Democratic Party (United States) 85,298 8.22 Claude R. Kirk Jr. Democratic Party (United States) 62,534 6.03 Leroy Eden Democratic Party (United States) 13,864 1.34 1,037,533 100.00 thumb|center|Democratic Primary Runoff by county #678cd7 Graham #8da9e2 50–60% #678cd7 60–70% #4170cd 70–80% #3358a2 80–90% #53bfbf Shevin #81d0d0 50–60% #53bfbf 60–70% Democratic primary runoff resultshttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=66041 FL Governor, 1978 - D Runoff Our Campaigns 5 April 2020Florida Handbook 1985-86 604 Bob Graham Democratic Party (United States) 482,535 53.55 Robert Shevin Democratic Party (United States) 418,636 46.45 901,171 100.00 Republican primary Candidates Jack Eckerd, businessman and administrator of the General Services Administration Lou Frey, U.S. Representative from Orlando Results thumb|center|Republican Primary by county #e55651 Eckerd #ed8783 50–60% #e55651 60–70% #d02923 70–80% #b00600 80–90% #850400 >90% #cc5f11 Frey #dc8c53 50–60% #cc5f11 60–70% Republican primary resultshttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=7765 FL Governor, 1978 - R Primary Our Campaigns 5 April 2020Florida Handbook 1985-86 601 Jack Eckerd Republican Party (United States) 244,394 63.84 Lou Frey Republican Party (United States) 138,437 36.16 382,831 100.00 General election Candidates Bob Graham, Democratic Jack Eckerd, Republican Results 1978 Florida gubernatorial electionhttps://books.google.com/books?id=HYKzDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 America Votes 31: 2013-2014, Election Returns by State Cook Rhodes 81 CQ Press 2015 9781483383026 5 April 2020https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=7766 FL Governor, 1978 Our Campaigns 5 April 2020Florida Handbook 1985-86 600 Democratic Party (United States) Bob Graham/ Wayne Mixson 1,406,580 55.59% Republican Party (United States) Jack Eckerd/ Paula Hawkins 1,123,888 44.41% 282,692 11.18% 2,530,468 100.00% Democratic Party (United States) References Bibliography The Florida Handbook, 1985-86 Tallahassee, FL The Peninsular Publishing Company Morris Allen 1985 https://archive.org/details/floridahandbook00morr/page/n7/mode/2up Florida Handbook 1985-86 1978 Florida Gubernatorial Category:November 1978 in the United States