Wayne Mixson
John Wayne Mixson was an American politician, farmer, and Navy veteran who served as the 39th governor of Florida for three days in January 1987, after having served as the 12th lieutenant governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987. Mixson served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1967 to 1978 prior to being elected as lieutenant governor. He was a lifelong conservative Democrat, and though he served in the Florida legislature and as Florida's lieutenant governor as a member of that party, he supported a mix of Democratic and Republican candidates for various state and national offices after retiring from elected office.
Mixson was born and raised in New Brockton, Alabama. He served in the United States Navy during World War II, then attended college at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania before moving to Florida and finishing his degree at the University of Florida in 1947. He became an active member of the American Farm Bureau Federation and served in multiple positions in the organization from the county to statewide level both before and after his terms in elected office.
Mixson entered politics in 1966, with an unsuccessful run in the Democratic primary election for a seat in the Florida Senate. In 1967, he won election to the Florida House of Representatives from Jackson County in the Florida panhandle and served a total of six terms as a state legislator. In 1978, Bob Graham, a state senator from South Florida, tapped Mixson to be his running mate to balance the ticket in his campaign for governor. They won, and Mixson was sworn in as Florida's 12th lieutenant governor in January 1979. The ticket of Graham and Mixson were reelected in 1982, but Graham was prohibited from running for a third term in 1986 due to Florida's term limit law. Instead, Graham ran for and won election to the United States Senate.
Mixson considered running for governor to replace Graham in 1986, but ultimately decided to retire from electoral politics and Republican Bob Martinez won the office. Graham's term in the U.S. Senate began three days before his term as governor ended, so he resigned effective January 3, 1987 to assume his new duties in Washington. As stipulated in state law, lieutenant governor Wayne Mixson briefly assumed the office of governor, and he held the office for about 72 hours before Martinez was inaugurated on January 6, 1987.
Early life and education
John Wayne Mixson was born on June 16, 1922, in New Brockton, Alabama, to Cecil Marion Mixson and Mineola Moseley. Mixson's great-grandfather and great-uncle had both served as members of the Alabama Legislature. In 1941, he graduated from high school and moved to Florida. In 1942, Mixon joined the United States Navy. Mixson attended Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania before graduating from the University of Florida in 1947, with a degree in business administration. On December 27, 1947, he married Margie Grace in Graceville, Florida.Farm Bureau
During the 1950s he served as president of the Jackson County Farm Bureau. Mixson was selected to replace Sandy Johnson as the Florida Farm Bureau's field representative in North Florida and took the position on June 15, 1954. In 1955, he was selected to replace Sandy Johnson as organizational director of the Florida Farm Bureau. From 1958 to 1960, he served as the southern regional director for the national Farm Bureau. In 1960, he became the director of industry relations and commodity activities for the Florida Farm Bureau.In 1961, Mixson resigned from his position within the Florida Farm Bureau to manage his farm and considered running in the 9th congressional district during the 1962 elections. In 1963, he was selected to serve on the board of directors of the Jackson County Farm Bureau and was reelected in 1964, and 1966.
In 1965, E. H. Finlayson, president of the Florida Farm Bureau, announced that he would not seek reelection, and Mixson ran to succeed him, but later withdrew. Art Karst was selected to replace Finlayson while Mixson was selected to serve as vice president.
During the 1970s Mixson would serve as the only full-time farmer on the Agriculture committee in the Florida House of Representatives or as the only full-time farmer in the state House. In 1977, he had a net worth of $256,200, assets worth $1,051,400, with $564,900 coming from his 1,883 acres of farm land and $150,000 from his cattle, and an income of $298,592, with a majority coming from cattle, peanuts, and grain sales.
Career
During the 1950s Mixson supported Republican presidential nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower. During the 1964 presidential election he supported Republican nominees Barry Goldwater and William E. Miller. He also served as a member of the Florida Citizens For Goldwater-Miller committee.State legislature
Elections
Mixson ran for the Democratic nomination for the state Senate from the 6th district in 1966, but placed third behind Bill Pearce and L. P. Gibson. In 1967, he ran for the Democratic nomination for the state House of Representatives from the 11th district. In the primary he defeated incumbent Representative Coy J. Mitchell and later faced no opposition in the general election. In 1968 and 1970, he won reelection.On June 29, 1972, he announced that he would seek reelection to the House of Representatives. In the Democratic primary he defeated John Grace, a 26 year old veteran of the Vietnam War, and in the general election Mixson faced no opposition. In 1974, he was reelected.
Tenure
During the 1967–1968 session of the House of Representatives Mixson served on the Ad Valorem Taxation, Appropriations, Claims, Public Health and Welfare, and State Institutions committees. During the 1968–1970 session of the House of Representatives he served as the vice chairman of the Agriculture committee and as a member of the Ad Valorem Taxation, and Transportation committees. During the 1970–1972 session of the House of Representatives he served as the vice chairman of Community Affairs committee and as a member of the Agriculture, Appropriations, and Migrant Affairs committees.In 1971, Mixson was selected to serve as a Majority Whip alongside John Clark, Elvin L. Martinez, Roy Hess, Ed Fortune, John Forbes, Lew Whitworth, and Harold Featherstone. Each whip was placed in charge of ten of the eighty-one Democratic members of the House.
During the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries he supported Senator Henry M. Jackson.
In January 1972, Mixson was selected by Speaker Richard Pettigrew to replace Howell Lancaster as chairman of the Agriculture committee due to Lancaster's death. During the 1973–1975 session of the House of Representatives he served as the chairman of Agriculture committee and as a member of the Rules, and Community Affairs committees.
In 1973, an impeachment inquiry was held for Lieutenant Governor Thomas Burton Adams Jr. for using public employees for personal financial gain during his service as Secretary of Commerce. On May 17, the House of Representatives voted 61 to 55 in favor of impeaching Adams, but needed a two-thirds majority of 78 to impeach him. Mixson had voted against impeaching. After failing to impeach Adams the House of Representatives voted 88 to 26 in favor of censuring Adams for using the office for personal gain, which Mixson voting in support of the censure motion.
During the 1975–1977 session of the House of Representatives he served as the chairman of Agriculture, and General legislation committees and as a member of the Appropriations, Community Affairs, and Rules committees. During the 1977–1979 session of the House of Representatives he served as the chairman of Agriculture, and General legislation committees and as a member of the Appropriations, and Rules committees.
On June 2, 1975, the House of Representatives voted 104 to 15, with Mixson voting against, in favor of impeaching state Treasurer Tom O'Malley.
Lieutenant governor
Elections
1978
During the 1978 Florida gubernatorial election Mixson was speculated as a possible lieutenant gubernatorial nominee for both Bob Graham and Robert L. Shevin. In January 1978, Shevin listed Mixson as one of his five candidates for the position alongside state Senators Lori Wilson, Betty Castor, James Glisson, and state Speaker of the House T. Terrell Sessums.On March 18, Mixson announced that he would be Graham's running mate, but Graham stated on March 19, that a final decision had not been made yet. On March 30, Graham announced that Mixson would serve as his lieutenant governor as Mixson could appeal to rural voters in northern Florida. Following his selection he was endorsed by the Jackson County Floridian, the daily newspaper in Marianna, Florida, where Mixson lived, and by Guy Long, president of the NAACP in Jackson County, who held a press conference to refute rumors of Mixson being a redneck racist.
Mixson was accused of stating "You all might think you have the nigger vote sewed up in Jackson County, but the truth is, whoever pays 'em last gets it" at Miami's Tiger Bay Club on August 16, by the Miami Herald. Graham and Mixson stated that Mixson did not make that statement.
In the Democratic gubernatorial primary runoff Graham and Mixson defeated Shevin and Glisson with 482,535 votes to 418,636 votes. In the general election Graham and Mixson defeated Jack Eckerd and Paula Hawkins, the Republican gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial nominees. Sam Mitchell was elected to succeed Mixson in the Florida House of Representatives from the 7th district.
1982
In April 1981, Mixson stated that he would seek reelection with Graham in 1982, however, on June 23, he stated that he might not run due to him feeling that he had been cut out of administration decisions as Graham became more reliant on his advisers Garry Smith and Steve Hull. However, after Mixson made the statement Graham held a ninety-minute meeting to discuss Mixson's complaints, and on June 24, Mixson stated that "I think Bob Graham's the greatest governor Florida has ever had, I'm very rewarded to be a part of his team" and that he would still seek reelection.Mixson was the first lieutenant governor of Florida to win reelection to a second term.