United States Senate election in Florida, 1968

United States Senate election in Florida, 1968

Nominee Edward Gurney LeRoy Collins Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,131,499 892,637 Percentage 55.9% 44.1%

Senator before election George Smathers Democratic Elected Senator Edward Gurney Republican

Elections in Florida
Federal government Presidential elections 1860 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 Presidential primaries Democratic 2008 2012 Republican 2008 2012 U.S. Senate elections 1968 1970 1974 1976 1980 1982 1986 1988 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 2016 U.S. House elections 2000 2002 2004 2006 5th 8th 9th 16th 2008 2010 2012 13th, 2014 19th, 2014 2014 2016
State government Gubernatorial elections 1964 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Attorney General elections 2002 2006 2010 2014 Chief Financial Officer elections 2006 2010 2014 Agriculture Commissioner of Florida 1994 2006 2010 2014 Ballot measures Other elections 2006 2010
Jacksonville Mayoral elections 2003 2007 2011 2015
Tampa Mayoral elections 2011 2015
St. Petersburg Mayoral elections 2013
Orlando Mayoral elections 2012 2016

The Florida United States Senate election of 1968 was marked by the election of the first Republican to the United States Senate from Florida since Reconstruction.

Democratic three-term incumbent George Smathers decided to not seek re-election in order to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Former popular two-term Governor LeRoy Collins won the Democratic nomination, while Representative Edward J. Gurney became the Republican candidate.

Gurney was much less well known than Collins, but he won by over 11% margin. It is possible that Richard Nixon's victory in the presidential race (including winning Florida) helped Gurney defeat Collins.

References

OurCampaign article on this race