Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera will have to overcome Florida history if he wants to sit in the U.S. Senate, since his current post has done little to help the men and women advance their electoral ambitions who have held it previously.
Lopez-Canteras name surfaced this week as a possible Senate candidate if U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., decides to run for the presidency instead of a second term. Politico reported on Thursday that Lopez-Cantera is looking at running for the Senate and he could be able to count on some major support, including that of his boss Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., though that could be complicated if state CFO Jeff Atwater gets in the race.
Allies say its likely that both Rubio and Scott have privately voiced their approval, but also that they might not endorse in a primary especially if its against Atwater, Politico reported.
But Lopez-Cantera does not have the best of perches if he decides to run for the Senate. As then-Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamps unsuccessful bid for the Republican attorney general nomination in 2010 showed, the position of lieutenant governor is not always a ticket to success in Florida politics.
While Kottkamp had the additional problem of running in a Republican primary not long after his boss, then-Gov. Charlie Crist, decided to abandon the GOP to run for the Senate without party affiliation, history shows that Floridas lieutenant governors have rarely found political success after their stints as the No. 2 in the executive branch.
The position has an odd history. During the first years of statehood in the period before the Civil War, the state did not have a lieutenant governor. It was created in 1865 as part of the Reconstruction constitutional reforms -- but was in existence for less than 25 years.
Despite serving in the Confederate Navy, William Kelly, a longtime legislator from Pensacola and a hero of the Mexican War, was elected Floridas first lieutenant governor in 1865 under Gov. David Walker. Walker and Kelly rose to power under President Andrew Johnson, who was looking to appoint moderate leaders to power in the South as opposed to abolitionists or rabid Confederates. While Kelly would serve on the bench after Reconstruction, his stint as lieutenant governor, which ended in 1868, was his moment in the sun.
Kelly was followed by William Henry Gleason, a carpetbagger from Wisconsin, whose advocacy for the freed slaves brought him into conflict with his moderate Republican boss, Gov. Harrison Reed. After one of the many impeachments of Reed, Gleason even declared himself governor -- only to find that most of the state government sided with Reed. Needless to say, Reed and his allies quickly removed Gleason, who spent the rest of his life out of politics, but staying in Florida to develop land and promote hotels and an agricultural college.
The controversial Reed had two more lieutenant governors -- Edmund Weeks and Samuel Day -- and they proved somewhat better than Gleason. Weeks, who was appointed by Reed, served a year and the Senate did not recognize him. Senators sat in his chair, presiding over the body and walked out when he attempted to preside. Weeks should have gotten the hint that they did not want him as lieutenant governor when the Senate debated a motion to arrest him. Instead, Weeks claimed to be lieutenant governor even when Day was elected to the position. Reed and the courts sided with Day. While Day served out the rest of his term until 1873, that was the high point of his political career. Weeks would represent Leon County in the Legislature and would lose a congressional election. Like his old boss Reed, Weeks would be appointed to an office in Florida by President Benjamin Harrison.
Next up would be Union army veteran Marcellus Stearns who was more prominent than most of the other 19th century lieutenant governors because he became governor when Ossian Hart passed away. Stearns would be the last Republican lieutenant governor as the Democrats returned to power after the sordid and still controversial 1876 elections when the Sunshine State was one of the key battlegrounds in the election between eventual winner Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden.
When Redeemer Democrat George Drew took power in 1877, he had Noble Hull, a Confederate veteran and former state legislator, as lieutenant governor. Quickly tiring of his position, Hull resigned it and ran for Congress the next year. While Hull was declared the winner when the votes were first counted, Jacksonville Republican Horatio Bisbee disputed the election and served the last three months of the term after a successful appeal. Hull would remain active in Jacksonville politics as an assistant postmaster and clerk of the Duval County courts.
When North Florida Democrat William Bloxham ran for governor in 1880, he looked to Key West for a running mate and picked Mayor Livingston Bethel. While Bethel was active in Key West for the rest of his life and served as a judge, his term as lieutenant governor was the high point of his political career. When Civil War hero Edward Perry was elected governor in 1884, he had Milton Mabry, who would later serve on the state Supreme Court, as his lieutenant governor.
In the constitutional revisions of 1885, the position of lieutenant governor was abolished, though Mabry served out his term. When Gov. Dan McCarthy died in 1953 at the age of 41, Senate President Charley Johns served as acting governor until he was defeated by LeRoy Collins in the Democratic primary.
When Claude Kirk was elected governor in 1966, the first Republican to hold the office since Stearns back in the 1870s, he pushed constitutional reform, including bringing back the lieutenant governor position. Kirk appointed Ray Osborne, an attorney who served in the Army and in the Florida House, as lieutenant governor. While Osborne remained a prominent attorney in the Sunshine State until his death in 2011, his years under Kirk were the highlight of his tenure in public office.
When voters threw out the colorful Kirk for Democrat Reubin Askew in 1970, they also voted in Tom Adams as lieutenant governor. Adams had served in the Senate and for a decade as secretary of state but he caused headaches for Askew. Askew attempted to name the well-regarded Adams as secretary of commerce -- only to discover that Adams was having a state employee handle some of his personal dealings at the taxpayers expense. Adams would be censured by a legislative committee and was dumped from Askews 1974 ticket. He would try to make a comeback in 1984, running for a seat in the state Senate, but would lose in a landslide. He died in a car accident on Interstate 10 in 2006.
Askew replaced Adams with J.H. Jim Williams who had served in the Senate. A real-estate investor and citrus grower based out of Ocala, Williams would not give Askew anything close to the problems that Adams had. After his service as lieutenant governor, Williams would serve as U.S. deputy secretary of agriculture. He would later serve on the board of the St. Johns River Water Management District.
When Bob Graham was elected as governor in 1978, he chose Wayne Mixson as his running mate. A veteran of the Navy and a farmer, Mixson was a longtime member of the Legislature. Mixson was the first lieutenant governor to win a second term and, during it, he also served as state secretary of commerce, much as Askew had wanted Adams to do. With Graham elected to the U.S. Senate, Mixson served as governor for three days before Bob Martinez was sworn in. Gov. Mixson is still serving on a number of boards and remains active in public affairs, occasionally endorsing candidates. Despite occasional rumors of a comeback, he never ran for office again.
Martinez chose Bobby Brantley, a Republican member of the House who specialized in criminal justice and prison issues, as his running mate in 1986. Brantley served with distinction -- including serving as secretary of commerce and overseeing the fledgling state lottery program. He also won national recognition, serving as chairman of the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors and advising President George H.W. Bush on rural affairs. Despite his prominence, he did not seek a second term. Brantley remains active in state affairs in Tallahassee, serving as a consultant with Shutts & Bowen. He headed up Attorney General Bill McCollums transition team after the 2006 elections.
Air Force veteran Buddy MacKay was elected as lieutenant governor when Lawton Chiles beat Martinez in 1990. MacKay had a long career in politics, serving more than 15 years in the Legislature before being elected to the U.S. House in 1982. MacKay would run for the U.S. Senate in 1988 but lose a close race to Connie Mack. MacKay would become the first lieutenant governor to win his partys gubernatorial nomination in 1998 though he would lose to Republican candidate Jeb Bush. After Chiles passed away in December 1998, weeks after Bush won the election, MacKay would serve as governor for three weeks. While MacKay would never run for office again, he did serve as a special envoy to the Americas for Bill Clinton and remains active in politics, endorsing candidates. He released an autobiography back in 2010.
Former Martin County Schools Superintendent Frank Brogan was elected as state education commissioner in 1994 and had been planning on seeking a second term when Bush asked him to be his running mate in 1998. Brogan agreed and won re-election in 2002. While Brogan worked on education issues and helped push Bushs agenda through the Legislature, when he had the chance to serve as president of Florida Atlantic University, he agreed. Brogan went on to serve as chancellor of the state university system. He is currently the chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
When Brogan stepped down, Bush selected former Senate President Toni Jennings, who had served more than two decades in the Legislature, to fill the post. Like Brogan, Jennings helped push Bushs program through the Legislature. She did not seek office in 2006 and, reportedly, was not interested in serving as Rick Scotts lieutenant governor candidate back in 2010.
Next up was Kottkamp, who served in the House before Crist tapped him as his running mate. Despite winning praise from social conservatives and taking the lead in trying to prevent NASA from cutting jobs in Florida, Kottkamp placed second behind Pam Bondi in the Republican attorney general primary back in August 2010. Since then, Kottkamp has remained active in business and there have been occasional rumors of him running for office, though so far he has stayed away from a political comeback.
Jennifer Carroll was Scotts first lieutenant governor and was the first African-American to hold the position. Despite coming up short against U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., twice, Carroll was seen as a rising star for Republicans and was a favorite of the leadership in the Florida House during her time there. But Carroll flopped as lieutenant governor with her office in conflict with Scott and the lieutenant governor faces allegations in court from a former aide that she had been found in her office in a compromising position with a female aide. Carroll didnt help matters by her botched response to the allegations in the media. After Carroll was named in a racketeering probe and questioned by law enforcement officials, Scott dismissed her in March 2013.
Perhaps because the position has been in existence for less than half of the 170 years of Florida statehood, its fair to say that the lieutenant governorship has not helped most of the men -- and the two women -- who held the position. It has not helped pave the way for any future electoral ambitions, with the possible exception of Hull, who quickly had his congressional election declared invalid. The post clearly elevated some of its occupants to non-elected office -- Bloxham and Mabry from the 19th century were appointed to the bench, Williams ended up as a deputy Cabinet secretary and Brogan as a university president and education leader.
But, on the whole, being lieutenant governor has not helped serve as a springboard to greater electoral office. None of the lieutenant governors were elected to serve as governor or to the U.S. Senate or even to another state Cabinet office. MacKay was the only lieutenant governor to even come close when he won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination back in 1998.
A quote from witty Thomas Marshall from Indiana, who served as Woodrow Wilsons vice president for two terms, comes to mind: Once there were two brothers: one ran away to sea, the other was elected vice president -- and nothing was ever heard from either of them again. The same can be said for most of the lieutenant governors of Florida.
This history is something to keep in mind, especially as Lopez-Cantera explores a Senate bid. Still, Lopez-Cantera has a chance to defy history. He has won countywide election in Miami-Dade and, during his time in the Florida House, moved up to become House majority leader. Now 41, Lopez-Cantera was a popular presence on the campaign trail for Republicans last year and is the first Hispanic to be lieutenant governor. But history shows serving as lieutenant governor of Florida has never been a good launching pad for higher political aspirations.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
