2018 Florida gubernatorial election


The 2018 Florida gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the next Governor of Florida, alongside an election to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and other state and local elections. Incumbent two-term Republican Governor Rick Scott was term-limited and could not run for a third term.
The candidate filing deadline for this gubernatorial race was on June 22, 2018, with primary elections being held on August 28, 2018. Florida uses a closed primary process, in which the selection of each party's candidates for a general election is limited to registered members of that party. Andrew Gillum won the Democratic primary and Ron DeSantis won the Republican primary.
The close margin mandated a machine recount, which had a deadline of November 15, 2018. Ken Detzner, who has served as the 28th Secretary of State of Florida since 2012, did not declare a manual recount. After the machine recount was completed, DeSantis was confirmed as the winner and Gillum conceded on November 17. DeSantis's victory marked the sixth straight election in which Florida elected a Republican to the governorship.

Republican primary

Nominee

Polling


Hypothetical polling		---------------

Results

Democratic primary

Nominee

Polling


Hypothetical polling		-------------------

Results

Other parties and independents

Reform Party (declared candidates)

  • Darcy Richardson, author, 2012 Democratic candidate for president, 1988 US Senate candidate, 1980 Pennsylvania Auditor general candidate

    Libertarian Party (withdrawn candidates)

  • Riquet Caballero, banker, Afro-Cuban activist, and former member of the Black Affairs Advisory Board of Miami-Dade County. Ended campaign to run for State House District 108
  • Randy Wiseman, former Republican chair of the Lake County School Board, Republican candidate for the state house in 2004 and candidate for Mayor of Mount Dora in 2013

    Constitution Party (withdrawn candidates)

  • Daniel P. Zutler, small business owner; Independent candidate for President in 2016

    Independents

Declared

  • Ryan Christopher Foley, former EMT
  • Kyle "KC" Gibson, pastor
  • Bruce Stanley, environmental activist

    Declined

  • Grant Hill, former basketball player
  • John Morgan, personal injury lawyer and medical marijuana advocate
  • Ellen Marie Wilds, JPO supervisor

    Endorsements

General election

Debates

First debate

The first debate moderated by CNN's Jake Tapper was hosted on October 21, 2018, at WEDU, Tampa, Florida. It was an hour long debate featuring topics like climate change, minimum wage, health care, gun control, the NRA, De Santis's "monkey up" comment and President Donald Trump being a role model for children.
This debate was held a day before early voting started in Florida on October 22, 2018.

Second debate

The second debate occurred on October 24, 2018 and was hosted at Weston, Florida. It was moderated by Leadership Florida and the Florida Press Association.

Endorsements

Predictions

Polling


;Hypothetical polling		-------

;with Ron DeSantis and Gwen Graham

Results

Voter demographics

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