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, and he successfully ran for Florida's Class I Senate seat. Republican U.S. representative Ron DeSantis narrowly defeated Democratic mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum for the governorship, in what some considered an upset. The candidate filing deadline was June 22, 2018, and primary elections were held on August 28. 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; Gillum won the Democratic primary and DeSantis the Republican primary. The close margin mandated a machine recount, which had a deadline of November 15, 2018. After the recount was complete, DeSantis was certified as the winner. Gillum conceded on November 17. DeSantis's victory marked the sixth straight election in which Florida elected a Republican to the governorship, and the third in a row that neither candidate received over 50% of the vote. With a margin of 0.4%, this election was the closest race of the 2018 gubernatorial election cycle. Gillum became the first Democrat to win Duval County since 1986 and Seminole County since 1990, while DeSantis became the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to win Jefferson County since 1884. Republican primary Nominee Ron DeSantis, U.S. representative Eliminated in primary Don Baldauf, contractor Timothy Devine, candidate for governor of Florida in 2014 Bob Langford, attorney John Joseph Mercadante, Republican National Committee official Bruce Nathan, physical therapist and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 Adam Putnam, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and former U.S. representative Bob White, chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida Withdrawn Issak Almaleh, notary Frederick Buntin, incarcerated felon Usha Jain, medical director Jack Latvala, former Florida state senator Armando Adames Rivas, banker Angel Rivera, businessman, political strategist Nathan Dale Wilson Declined Jeff Atwater, former chief financial officer of Florida Pam Bondi, Florida Attorney General (endorsed Adam Putnam) Richard Corcoran, Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives (endorsed Adam Putnam) John Delaney, former mayor of Jacksonville Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas and candidate for president in 2008 and in 2016 Francis Rooney, U.S. representative Marco Rubio, U.S. senator from Florida and candidate for president in 2016 Will Weatherford, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Endorsements Polling Results Democratic primary Nominee Andrew Gillum, mayor of Tallahassee Eliminated in primary Gwen Graham, former U.S. representative and daughter of former U.S. senator and former governor Bob Graham Jeff Greene, real estate billionaire and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010 Chris King, entrepreneur and founder of Elevation Financial Group Philip Levine, former mayor of Miami Beach Alex Lundmark, real estate agent John Wetherbee, entrepreneur Withdrew Henry E. Davis, judge Richard Paul Dembinsky, candidate for U.S. representative in 2016