Lawton Chiles

Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. (April 3, 1930 – December 12, 1998) was an American politician and military officer. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Florida from 1971 to 1989 and as the 41st governor of Florida from 1991 until his death in 1998.

A Korean War veteran, Chiles later returned to Florida for law school and eventually opened his own private practice in 1955. Three years later, Chiles entered politics with a successful bid for the Florida House of Representatives in 1958.

By 1966, Chiles left the Florida House to run for the Florida Senate. Despite 12 years in the Florida Legislature, Chiles was relatively unknown when he decided to bid for United States Senate in 1970. He embarked on a 1,003-mile walk from Pensacola to Key West for his campaign, earning him the nickname "Walkin' Lawton". It was successful and Chiles defeated his opponent William C. Cramer by a 53.9%–46.1% margin. Chiles was re-elected with relative ease in 1976 and 1982. He retired from the United States Senate in 1989.

Not long after his retirement, supporters convinced him to run for governor of Florida in 1990 against the unpopular incumbent Republican Bob Martinez, and Chiles defeated Martinez with 56.5% of the vote. During his first term as Governor, Chiles reformed health care and oversaw recovery efforts from Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Chiles faced a tough re-election bid in 1994 against Jeb Bush, a businessman and son of former President George H. W. Bush. Chiles prevailed over Bush with 50.75% of the vote, with a margin of fewer than 64,000 votes. During his second term, Chiles worked on education reform. On December 12, 1998, he suffered a heart arrhythmia and died at the Florida Governor's Mansion, leaving Lieutenant Governor Buddy MacKay to serve the remaining 24 days of Chiles' unexpired term. Jeb Bush succeeded MacKay. As of 2025, Chiles is the last Democrat to be elected as Governor of Florida.