Tom Gallagher
C. Thomas Gallagher III is an American politician, financier, and insurance agent from the state of Florida and a member of the Republican Party. Gallagher holds the distinction of having served more years as an elected state official than any other individual in Florida history. He began his career in the Florida House of Representatives, where he served from 1974 to 1987.
He was then the Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal of Florida from 1989 to 1995, the Education Commissioner of Florida from 1999 to 2001 and the Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal of Florida again from 2001 to 2003.
After 2003, his office was merged with that of Comptroller to form the Chief Financial Officer of Florida, which he held from 2003 to 2007. Gallagher has also run unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 2000 and four times for Governor of Florida: in 1982, 1986, 1994 and 2006.
Early life and family
Gallagher was raised in Delaware where he participated on the high school swim team. In 1961, he entered the University of Miami with a partial athletic scholarship. After graduating, Gallagher enlisted in the United States Army with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment. Gallagher was honorably discharged and returned to Miami to start a business career.Gallagher married his second wife, Laura Wilson, in 1998. Wilson comes from a sixth-generation Florida family. The Gallaghers have a son, Charlie, born in 2000.
Early political career
Florida House of Representatives
Gallagher began his political career when he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1974. He ran in the 111th district and defeated the Democratic nominee, attorney Alan Rosenthal, by 51% to 49%. He was re-elected in 1980, defeating John F. Cosgrove by 62% to 38%. He briefly ran for Governor of Florida in 1982 but dropped out early on after realising that incumbent Democrat Bob Graham would be re-elected. He was, defeating U.S. Representative Louis A. Bafalis in a landslide by 65% to 35%.Gallagher was re-elected from the 117th district in 1982, defeating attorney Charlene Carres by 57% to 43%. His final race was in 1984, when he defeated real estate agent and former actor Seth Sklarey by 70% to 30%. In the House he served as Minority Whip from 1980 to 1982. In 1984, he proposed a 10-year freeze on state taxes and spending. He declined to run for re-election in 1986, deciding instead to enter the Republican primary for Governor.
1986 gubernatorial election
In the election, he faced fellow State Representative Chester Clem, former U.S. Representative Louis Frey, Jr. and Tampa Mayor Bob Martinez. His running mate was State Representative Betty Easley. She had been running for Commissioner of Education but dropped out to pursue the office of Lieutenant Governor. Martinez finished first with 244,417 votes and advanced to a runoff with Frey, who came second with 137,967 votes. Gallagher came third with 131,265 votes and Clem finished last with 44,409 votes. Gallagher endorsed Martinez, who won the run-off and the general election. In September 1987, Martinez appointed Gallagher as the Secretary of the Department of Professional Regulation.Statewide office
Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal
In 1988, Gallagher ran in a special election for the office of Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal of Florida to fill the last two years of the term of Democrat Bill Gunter, who had resigned to run for the U.S. Senate. He won the Republican nomination handily, taking 459,451 votes to Jeffrey L. Latham's 94,608 and Raphael Herman's 46,654.In the general election, he defeated Democratic State Senator Ken Jenne by 2,223,401 votes to 1,935,137. He and James C. Smith, who was elected Secretary of State of Florida, became the first Republicans to be elected to the State Cabinet since Reconstruction. Smith, who had been appointed to his office in 1987, was the first Republican to serve on the State Cabinet since Reconstruction. He was elected to a full four-year-term in 1990, beating Democratic State Senator George Stuart, Jr. by 1,965,216 votes to 1,469,541.
1994 gubernatorial election
In 1994, Gallagher announced his second run for Governor of Florida. In the Republican primary, he faced former state Commerce Secretary Jeb Bush, Florida Secretary of State James C. Smith, Florida Senate President Ander Crenshaw, former President of Florida Right to Life Kenneth L. Connor, physician Josephine A. Arnold and attorney Bob Bell. Bush came first with 411,680 votes and Smith came second with 165,869 votes, enough to force a runoff, but he dropped out and endorsed Bush. Gallagher came third with 117,067 votes, Crenshaw fourth with 109,148, Connor fifth with 83,945, Arnold sixth with 8,326 and Bell last with 5,202. Bush went on to narrowly lose the general election to incumbent Democratic Governor Lawton Chiles.Commissioner of Education
Out of office for four years, Gallagher ran for Commissioner of Education in 1998. Incumbent Republican Frank Brogan had been running for re-election but was tapped by Governor Jeb Bush to be his running mate in the 1998 election, which they won. Gallagher was unopposed for the Republican nomination and faced Democrat Peter Rudy Wallace, the former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives in the general election. Gallagher won by 2,185,027 votes to 1,679,893.2000 U.S. Senate election
Two years into his term, Gallagher announced that he was running for the United States Senate in 2000. Florida's "resign-to-run" law requires an incumbent office holder seeking another elective office to submit an irrevocable resignation from the office they currently hold unless that tenure would end anyway before they would assume the new position if elected. The candidate may designate the effective date of the resignation to be in the future, but it must be no later than the date that they would assume the new office.This compelled Gallagher to submit his resignation as Commissioner of Education early in 2000 when he began to campaign for the U.S. Senate seat. He chose January 3, 2001 as the effective date of his resignation, as that was the date new Senators would be sworn in. Democrat Bill Nelson, who had succeeded Gallagher as Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal, also filed his resignation as he joined the Senate race.
Gallagher faced U.S. Representative Bill McCollum in the primary and attacked both McCollum and Nelson for their attendance records in their respective jobs. He campaigned on his support for the marriage penalty, lowering the cost of drug prescriptions for seniors, increasing spending on social security and abolishing the federal income tax. However, after just over a month in the race, Gallagher withdrew. He had difficulty fundraising and had less than one-third of the money that McCollum had. He was encouraged to drop out by Governor Bush, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Al Cardenas and others who believed that a divisive and expensive Senate primary would damage the eventual nominee for the general election campaign with Nelson.
Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal
As Gallagher's resignation could not be withdrawn, he instead ran for Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal again. As Nelson was resigning, a special election was taking place and following the withdrawal of State Senate President Toni Jennings, the Republicans lacked a top-tier candidate. State Representative Joe Arnall, who had been in the race for a week after Jennings pulled out, immediately withdrew in favour of Gallagher.After polls showed that Gallagher was favoured for the Republican nomination and was by far the strongest general election candidate, former State Representative and two-time Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal nominee Tim Ireland and State Representative Greg Gay also withdrew from the race, leaving Gallagher unopposed in the Republican primary. In the general election against State Representative John F. Cosgrove, Gallagher won easily, as he was predicted to do, taking 3,363,705 votes to Cosgrove's 2,336,117.