Tom Slade, Former RPOF Chair, Dies at 78

Former Florida state Sen. Tom Slade, best known for leading the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF), throughout much of the 1990s when the GOP surged to take control of the state, passed away on Monday at age 78. Slade had suffered heart failure last week and was being hospitalized at Orange Park Medical Center.

First elected to the Florida House in 1962 and to the Florida Senate in 1966, Slade witnessed the GOPs rise to prominence in the Sunshine State. In the same year Slade was elected to the Senate, Claude Kirk became the first Republican to be elected governor of Florida in almost 100 years. But things took a turn for the worse for the GOP in 1970 when Kirk lost out to Reubin Askew for a second term and Bill Cramer was beat out by Lawton Chiles in the U.S. Senate race. Slade also had a rough 1970, losing his bid to become state treasurer and being in the same plane crash that injured Bill Young at the Tallahassee Regional Airport.

Slade resurfaced in the 1990s, chairing the Florida Tax and Budget Commission in 1990 and heading up the RPOF in 1993. During his time in charge of the RPOF, Republicans won the governorship under Jeb Bush, won control of both chambers of the Legislature and took a majority of seats in the state congressional delegation. More than 15 years after Slade left the RPOF, those majorities are still in place.

In 1999, Slade ran to be chairman of the Republican National Committee but came up short.