Overview

Incumbent Governor of Florida Claude Roy Kirk, Jr. was the first Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 who held Florida's governorship since Reconstruction. He was elected in 1966, when Republicans has made some gains in traditionally Democratic Deep South

Deep South

The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...

.

Republican nomination

Kirk defeated Jack Eckerd

Jack Eckerd

Jack Eckerd , was an American businessman who was a major innovator in drugstore retailing, and a public servant, politician and philanthropist.-Biography:...

 in a runoff election for the Republican nomination.

Democratic nomination

Candidates:

• President pro tempore
  President pro tempore
  A President pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer...
  
   of the Florida Senate
  Florida Senate
  The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Senate is composed of 40 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 470,032....
  
   Reubin O'Donovan Askew
  Reubin O'Donovan Askew
  Reubin O'Donovan Askew is an American politician, who served as the 37th Governor of the U.S. state of Florida from 1971 to 1979.-Early life and career:...
  
  
• Earl Faircloth
  Earl Faircloth
  Earl Faircloth was a former Florida Attorney General and State Representative.He was a politician from the U.S. state of Florida. Earl Faircloth served as the Florida Attorney General from 1965 to 1971....
  
  
• Chuck Hall
• John E. Mathews

In primaries, held on September 3, none of these candidates was able to win majority, which resulted runoff.

• Faircloth - 227,413 (29.96%)
• Askew - 206,333 (27.18%)
• Mathews - 186,053 (24.51%)
• Hall - 139,384 (18.36%)

Runoff (October 3):

• Askew - 447,025 (57.68%)
• Faircloth - 328,038 (42.32%)

Thomas Burton Adams, Jr, Secretary of State, became Askew running mate.

General election

Askew and Adams defeated incumbents Governor Kirk and Lieutenant Governor Ray C. Osborn with respectable margin.

• Reubin Askew/Thomas Burton Adams, Jr.
  Thomas Burton Adams, Jr.
  Thomas Burton "Tom" Adams, Jr. was an American politician from the U.S. state of Florida. A Democrat, he served in the Florida Senate , as Secretary of State of Florida , and as the tenth Lieutenant Governor of Florida .-Early life:Adams was born in Jacksonville, Florida to Thomas Burton Adams,...
  
   (D) - 984,305 (56.88%)
• Claude Roy Kirk, Jr./Ray C. Osborn (R, Inc.) - 746,243 (43.12%)

On the very same day Florida elected to the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 Democrat Lawton Chiles

Lawton Chiles

Lawton Mainor Chiles, Jr. was an American politician from the US state of Florida. In a career spanning four decades, Chiles, a Democrat who never lost an election, served in the Florida House of Representatives , the Florida State Senate , the United States Senate , and as the 41st Governor of...

, who later was elected Governor in 1990.