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.

Nominee

 * Ron DeSantis, U.S. representative from the 6th district

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Withdrawn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

Results
[[File:Florida Governor Republican Primary Election Results by County, 2018.svg|275px|thumb|Results by county: {{legend|#EE5140|DeSantis}}

{{legend|#F18C86|DeSantis—40–50%}}

{{legend|#EE5140|DeSantis—50–60%}}

{{legend|#C53926|DeSantis—60–70%}}

{{legend|#771E12|DeSantis—70–80%}} {{legend|#FACA33|Putnam}}

{{legend|#FDE387|40–50%}}

{{legend|#FACA33|50–60%}}

{{legend|#D0A828|60–70%}}

{{legend|#7E6514|70–80%}} ]]

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 and candidate for governor in 2006
 * Lucretia Fordyce, activist
 * Josue Larose, perennial candidate
 * Brooke Russell Locke Marx, notary
 * Louis McClanahan, plant operator

Declined

 * Bob Buckhorn, mayor of Tampa
 * Kathy Castor, U.S. representative (running for reelection)
 * Charlie Crist, U.S. representative, former governor of Florida, and nominee for governor in 2014 (running for reelection)
 * Buddy Dyer, mayor of Orlando
 * Rick Kriseman, mayor of St. Petersburg
 * John Morgan, lawyer and medical marijuana advocate
 * Patrick Murphy, former U.S. representative and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2016
 * Bill Nelson, U.S. senator (running for reelection)
 * Jeremy Ring, former Florida state senator (running for CFO)
 * Jack Seiler, mayor of Fort Lauderdale

Results
[[File:2018FLGOVD.svg|thumb|275px|Results by county: {{legend|#5f8dd3|Gillum}}

{{legend|#d7e3f4|<30%}}

{{legend|#afc6e9|30–40%}}

{{legend|#87aade|40–50%}}

{{legend|#5f8dd3|50–60%}}

{{legend|#3771c8|60–70%}} {{legend|#5fd35f|Graham}}

{{legend|#d7f4d7|<30%}}

{{legend|#afe9af|30–40%}}

{{legend|#87de87|40–50%}}

{{legend|#5fd35f|50–60%}} {{legend|#de8787|Levine}}

{{legend|#f4d7d7|<30%}}

{{legend|#e9afaf|30–40%}}

{{legend|#de8787|40–50%}} ]]

Declared

 * Darcy Richardson, author and candidate for president in 2012

Withdrawn

 * Riquet Caballero, banker and Afro-Cuban activist (running for state representative)
 * Randy Wiseman, former chair of the Lake County School Board, candidate for state representative in 2004, and candidate for mayor of Mount Dora in 2013

Withdrawn

 * Daniel P. Zutler, businessman and candidate for president in 2016

Declared

 * Ryan Christopher Foley, former emergency medical technician
 * Kyle "KC" Gibson, pastor
 * Bruce Stanley, environmental activist

Declined

 * Grant Hill, former professional basketball player
 * John Morgan, lawyer and medical marijuana advocate
 * Ellen Marie Wilds, JPO supervisor (became Kyle "KC" Gibson's running mate)

First debate
The first debate moderated by CNN's Jake Tapper was hosted on October 21, 2018, at WEDU, Tampa, Florida. It was an hour long debate featuring topics like climate change, minimum wage,  health care, gun control, the NRA, DeSantis's "monkey up" comment and President Donald Trump being a role model for children.

This debate was held a day before early voting started in Florida on October 22, 2018.

Second debate
The second debate occurred on October 24, 2018, and was hosted at Weston, Florida. It was moderated by Leadership Florida and the Florida Press Association.

Predictions

 * Notes

Polling



 * with Ron DeSantis and Gwen Graham


 * with Ron DeSantis and Jeff Greene


 * with Ron DeSantis and Chris King


 * with Ron DeSantis and Philip Levine


 * with Adam Putnam and Andrew Gillum


 * with Adam Putnam and Gwen Graham


 * with Adam Putnam and Jeff Greene


 * with Adam Putnam and Chris King


 * with Adam Putnam and Philip Levine


 * with Bob White and Andrew Gillum


 * with Bob White and Gwen Graham


 * with Bob White and Chris King


 * with Bob White and Philip Levine


 * with generic Republican and Democrat


 * with Richard Corcoran and Andrew Gillum


 * with Richard Corcoran and Gwen Graham


 * with Richard Corcoran and Chris King


 * with Richard Corcoran and Philip Levine


 * with Richard Corcoran and John Morgan


 * with David Jolly and John Morgan


 * with Jeff Atwater and Gwen Graham


 * with Jeff Atwater and John Morgan


 * with Pam Bondi and Gwen Graham


 * with Pam Bondi and John Morgan


 * with David Jolly and Gwen Graham


 * with Andrew Putnam, Andrew Gillum, and John Morgan


 * with Andrew Putnam, Gwen Graham, and John Morgan


 * with Richard Corcoran, Andrew Gillum, and John Morgan


 * with Richard Corcoran, Gwen Graham, and John Morgan


 * with Adam Putnam and John Morgan

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

 * Duval (largest municipality: Jacksonville)
 * Seminole (largest municipality: Sanford)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

 * Jefferson (largest city: Monticello)
 * Monroe (largest city: Key West)

Analysis
The close margin mandated a machine recount, which had a deadline of November 15, 2018. If the margin was below 0.25% after machine recount, Ken Detzner, the Secretary of State of Florida, would commission a manual recount of over-votes and under-votes. However, after the recount was complete, DeSantis' margin was 0.40%; therefore he was certified the winner. Gillum conceded on November 17.

On November 10, 2022, former president Donald Trump claimed on his Truth Social page that he had prematurely ended the recount to prevent DeSantis and Senate candidate Rick Scott from losing, under the unsubstantiated belief that ballots for them were being removed. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried has asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate. Sarah Isgur, the spokeswoman of the Department of Justice from 2017 to 2019, has said that it "never happened," a position which was supported by other former Department of Justice officials. Broward County Commissioner Steven Geller has agreed that no interference took place.