Across the country, former governors are seeking to win back their old jobs. While the focus remains on California, where Jerry Brown, who was first elected governor in 1974, is seeking another chance, four other former governors -- Roy Barnes of Georgia, Terry Branstad of Iowa, Robert Erhlich of Maryland and John Kitzhaber of Oregon -- are waging campaigns for their old positions.
Could that happen in Florida?
Could the likes of Reubin Askew and Bob Martinez plan campaigns in 2010 to return to power in Tallahassee? Anything is possible. But, the fact is, Floridas governors have -- with two exceptions -- an abysmal track record of returning to their old position.
Richard Keith Call was a protogof Andrew Jackson. Jackson appointed Call to serve as territorial governor in 1836 at the height of the Second Seminole War. Unfortunately for the governor, President Martin Van Buren, who took Old Hickorys place in the White House, removed Call in 1839 due to problems arising from the war against the Seminoles. Call promptly went to work for Whig presidential hopeful William Henry Harrison and helped defeat Van Burens bid for a second term. During his month as president before he died, Harrison appointed Call to a second term as territorial governor. After 1845 when Florida became a state, Call hoped to serve yet again as governor, but the Democrats never forgave him for going over to the Whigs in 1840. They scuttled his bid for a third term in office.
A longtime political figure during the tumultuous years before the Civil War, who continued leading the Democrats during the Civil War and Reconstruction, William Bloxham was the only Florida governor to serve two nonconsecutive terms in office. Defeated in a close vote in the gubernatorial election of 1872, Bloxham bounced back to become governor in 1880. He was successful in pushing for constitutional reform and erasing the state debt, but he was controversial for his support of selling state-owned lands on the cheap to Hamilton Disston. Bloxham would lose his bid for re-nomination by the Democrats in 1884, only to return as governor in 1896.
In 1932, two former governors sought their old jobs back. John Wellborn Martin, who had served as mayor of Jacksonville, won the gubernatorial election in 1924. But he never quite found the winning political touch again. He lost bids for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate in 1928 and the gubernatorial election in 1932 to David Sholtz. Sholtz also edged out another former governor that year, Cary Hardee, who was elected in 1920 and was best known for introducing the electric chair to the Sunshine State.
The last former governor of Florida to run again for his old job was Fuller Warren. In 1956, four years after being term-limited out of the governors mansion, Warren ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination only to lose to LeRoy Collins.
With seven former governors -- Claude Kirk, Reubin Askew, Bob Graham, Wayne Mixson, Bob Martinez, Buddy MacKay and Jeb Bush -- still alive, and Charlie Crist not seeking a second term, the Sunshine State may see yet another former governor try again for his old job. If Jerry Brown can seek his old job back after more than 35 years, whos to say we wont see a Kirk or a Mixson 2014 campaign?
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
