1978 Florida gubernatorial election

The 1978 Florida gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1978. Democratic nominee Bob Graham was elected, defeating Republican nominee Jack Eckerd with 55.59% of the vote.

Primary elections

Primary elections were held on September 12, 1978. The Democratic runoff was held on October 5, 1978.

Seven tickets ran for the Democratic nomination for governor of Florida.
Jim Williams, the lieutenant governor, ran for governor with former Florida state senator Betty Castor of Tampa, as his running mate. Hans G. Tanzler, the mayor of Jacksonville, ran with Manuel "Manolo" Arques, a Cuban-American real estate and insurance executive from Miami. Florida secretary of state Bruce Smathers ran with state representative Charles W. Boyd.
Claude R. Kirk Jr. of Palm Beach, who was the Republican governor of Florida from 1967 to 1971, returned to the party he left 18 years prior, switching his party affiliation to Democratic on July 5, 1978 (the month prior re-registering as an independent and launching an abortive signature drive to get on the ballot as an independent. He chose as his running mate Mary L. Singleton, the former director of the Florida Division of Elections and the first black woman to serve on the Jacksonville City Council.