There will likely never be another Florida governor like Lawton Chiles.
Sure, there hasn’t been Democrat elected governor since Chiles won his second term in 1994 over a young businessman named Jeb Bush, but that’s only part of the reason for Chiles’ distinction.
Born in Lakeland in 1930, Chiles served in the Korean War, later attended law school at UF and in 1958 was elected to the Florida House. In a 40-year political career, Chiles never lost an election.
He served as State Rep and State Senator before running for the U.S. Senate 1970, when he made headlines with a a 1,003-mile walk from Pensacola to Key West for his campaign.
After 18 years, Chiles left the Senate to retire from politics but was coaxed back into it to run for governor in 1990 against Republican Bob Martinez, whom he defeated.
Bush challenged him for re-election in 1994 and appeared to be a lock to defeat Chiles.
But in a televised debate, Chiles referred to himself as Florida’s “He-Coon,” an old Southern term for the oldest, largest and craftiest male raccoon in the woods. Donning a coon-skin cap, he went on to narrowly defeat Bush (who would successfully run again in four years).
Chiles would have a heart attack and die in office, just three weeks before newly-elected Bush was scheduled to take office after defeating Lt. Gov. Buddy McKay.
Chiles was 68 when he died.