2010 Florida gubernatorial election

Florida gubernatorial election, 2010

← 2006 November 2, 2010 2014 →

Nominee Rick Scott Alex Sink Party Republican Democratic Running mate Jennifer Carroll Rod Smith Popular vote 2,619,335 2,557,785 Percentage 48.9% 47.7%

County Results Scott:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Sink:      40-50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Governor before election Charlie Crist Independent Elected Governor Rick Scott Republican

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Government
v t e

The 2010 Florida gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2010. Republican-turned-Independent incumbent Governor Charlie Crist chose not to run for a second term. He instead ran (unsuccessfully) for the Senate seat vacated by Mel Martínez.^[1] This resulted in an open race for Governor of Florida in which Republican Rick Scott narrowly defeated Democrat Alex Sink.

Despite mixed to unfavorable ratings, Rick Scott benefited greatly from the midterm GOP wave, in which Republicans made significant gains across the country.^[2] Scott was one of six Republican gubernatorial pick-ups nationwide (counting Crist now as an Independent).

The tight and highly contentious election was one of the standout races in 2010. Despite not professing direct allegiance to the movement,^[3] Scott benefited from support and endorsement by Tea Party activists,^[2][4] an influential conservative voting bloc of the 2010 midterms. Furthermore, Scott ran aggressively against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and exit polls indicated considerable support for that position.^[5]

Contents

• 
  1 Candidates
  
  
  
  • 
    1.1 Republican
    
  
  
  • 
    1.2 Democratic
    
  
  
  • 
    1.3 Independence Party of Florida
    
  
  
  • 
    1.4 No party affiliation
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  2 Primary results
  
  
  
  • 
    2.1 Democratic
    
  
  
  • 
    2.2 Republican
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  3 Campaign
  


• 
  4 Polling
  
  
  
  • 
    4.1 Democratic primary
    
  
  
  • 
    4.2 Republican primary
    
  
  
  • 
    4.3 General election
    
    
    
    • 
      4.3.1 Hypothetical Polls
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  5 Election results
  


• 
  6 See also
  


• 
  7 References
  


• 
  8 External links
  

Candidates

Republican

• 
  Bill McCollum, Florida Attorney General and former U.S. Representative
  


• 
  Rick Scott, health care executive, businessman, and healthcare activist
  


• Mike McCalister, businessman

Democratic

• 
  Alex Sink, Chief Financial Officer


• 
  Brian P. Moore, marketing and executive director, project administrator and consultant, 2008 Socialist Party presidential nominee

Independence Party of Florida

• Peter L. Allen, electrical inspector

No party affiliation

• 
  Michael E. Arth, policy analyst and urban designer who entered the race as a Democrat in June 2009 and later switched to no party affiliation in June 2010


• 
  Farid Khavari, economist, author, and small business owner


• Daniel Imperato^[6]
  


• Calvin Clarence "C.C." Reed

Primary results

Democratic

Alex Sink, the CFO of Florida, was mentioned as a possible candidate to run for Senate or Governor in 2010,^[7][8] but initially declined. When Charlie Crist announced he would not run for re-election, Sink immediately announced her campaign for governor. Sink was the wife of Bill McBride, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002.

Sink faced only token opposition in the primary. Her lone opponent was Socialist Brian Moore.^[9] On primary day, Sink won the Democratic nomination with nearly 77% of the vote.

Democratic primary results^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alex Sink	663,802	76.9%
	Democratic	Brian Moore	199,896	23.1%
Total votes			863,698	100.0%

Republican

In May 2009, Republican incumbent governor Charlie Crist announced he would not run for re-election, and instead would run for U.S. Senate.^[11] The move immediately turned the race competitive, as GOP-hopefuls lined up to run for the open seat. Former congressman and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum emerged as the early favorite. McCollum had previously lost the election for Senate in 2000, and lost the Republican nomination for Senate in 2004. This would be his third attempt at a major statewide campaign.

Just before the deadline, Rick Scott jumped into the primary fight. Scott started dumping millions of his own personal fortune into the race.^[12] The race quickly became one of the most expensive and "nasty" primary campaigns in recent Florida history.^[13] Scott and McCollum lashed out with very negative attacks against each other. Scott ran as a political "outsider", and led some early polls, but McCollum re-took the lead in polls just before primary day. Scott benefited in the absentee voting, while McCollum expected to make up the difference based on turnout. On primary day, Scott won the nomination with just over 46% of the vote. The dejected McCollum team reluctantly conceded after midnight.

Republican primary results^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rick Scott	595,474	46.4%
	Republican	Bill McCollum	557,427	43.4%
	Republican	Mike McCalister	130,056	10.1%
Total votes			1,282,957	100.0%

Campaign

The race was dominated by the two major party candidates and spending on their behalf. By the October 25, 2010, Tampa debate between Scott and Sink, Scott had spent $60 million of his own money on the campaign compared to Sink's $28 million.^[14] Total campaign expenditure for the race exceeded $100 million, far exceeding any previous spending for a governor's race in Florida.^[15] Scott spent $78 million of his personal wealth in the race.^[16] Sink made an issue of Scott's connections to Columbia/HCA, a Medicare billing fraud scandal.^[2]

One of the turning points in the campaign came during the debate. During a commercial break, Sink's make-up artist delivered a text message on her cell phone to Sink, in direct violation of the debate rules. The rules infraction was immediately pointed out by Scott and the debate moderators.^[17] Sink's team was accused of cheating during the debate, and the aide who delivered the message was fired from the campaign the next morning. Afterwards, media and observers were very critical of the gaffe.

Polling

Democratic primary

List of Democratic primary polling numbers
Poll source Dates administered Alex Sink Michael E. Arth Mason Dixon June 24–26, 2009 49% 4%

Republican primary

List of Republican primary polling numbers

Poll source Dates administered Bill McCollum Rick Scott Paula Dockery Quinnipiac August 21–22, 2010 39% 35% – Public Policy Polling August 21–22, 2010 40% 47% – Mason-Dixon August 17–19, 2010 45% 36% – Quinnipiac August 11–16, 2010 44% 35% – Sunshine State News August 12–15, 2010 42% 44% – Mason Dixon August 9–11, 2010 34% 30% – Ipsos/Florida Newspapers August 6–10, 2010 32% 42% – Mason Dixon August 2–4, 2010 31% 37% – The Florida Poll July 24–28, 2010 25% 41% – Quinnipiac July 22–27, 2010 32% 43% – Public Policy Polling July 16–18, 2010 29% 43% – Florida Chamber of Commerce June 9–13, 2010 30% 35% – Quinnipiac June 2–8, 2010 31% 44% – Mason-Dixon May 3–5, 2010 38% 24% 7% Research 2000 November 16–18, 2009 45% – 9% Strategic Vision May 29–31, 2009 44% – 28%

General election

Poll source	Dates administered	Bud Chiles (I)	Rick Scott (R)	Alex Sink (D)
Mason-Dixon	May 3–5, 2010	—	36%	38%
Rasmussen Reports	May 16, 2010	—	41%	40%
Rasmussen Reports	June 7, 2010	—	45%	40%
Quinnipiac	June 7, 2010	13%	35%	26%
Florida Chamber of Commerce	June 9–13, 2010	15%	31%	26%
Ipsos/Reuters	July 9–11, 2010	12%	34%	31%
Public Policy Polling	July 16–18, 2010	13%	30%	36%
Quinnipiac	July 22–27, 2010	14%	29%	27%
The Florida Poll	July 24–28, 2010	11%	30%	28%
Rasmussen Reports	August 2, 2010	16%	35%	31%
Ipsos/Florida Newspapers	August 6–10, 2010	14%	30%	29%
Mason-Dixon	August 9–11, 2010	17%	24%	40%
Quinnipiac	August 11–16, 2010	12%	29%	33%
Public Policy Polling	August 21–22, 2010	8%	34%	41%
Rasmussen Reports	August 25, 2010	4%	45%	42%
Rasmussen Reports	September 1, 2010	—	45%	44%
Sunshine State News	September 1–7, 2010		42%	44%
CNN	September 2–7, 2010		42%	49%
FOX News	September 11, 2010		41%	49%
Reuters/Ipsos	September 12, 2010		45%	47%
Mason-Dixon	September 20–22, 2010		40%	47%
Rasmussen Reports	September 22, 2010		50%	44%
Quinnipiac	September 23–28, 2010		49%	43%
CNN	September 24–28, 2010		47%	45%
Sunshine State News	September 26 – October 3, 2010		44%	42%
TCPalm.com / Zogby	September 27–29, 2010		39%	41%
Florida Chamber of Commerce	September 27–30, 2010		46%	42%
Rasmussen Reports	September 30, 2010		46%	41%
Mason-Dixon	October 4–6, 2010		40%	44%
Miami-Dade College	October 5, 2010		52%	46%
Quinnipiac	October 6–8, 2010		45%	44%
Rasmussen Reports	October 7, 2010		50%	47%
PPP	October 9–10, 2010		41%	46%
Susquehanna	October 12–13, 2010		45%	48%
Suffolk	October 14–17, 2010		38%	45%
CNN Opinion Research	October 15–19, 2010		49%	46%
Ipsos/ St. Pete Times	October 15–19, 2010		44%	41%
Rasmussen Reports	October 18, 2010		50%	44%
Naples Daily News / Zogby	October 18–21, 2010		39%	43%
Quinnipiac	October 18–24, 2010		41%	45%
Susquehanna	October 20, 2010		45%	45%
Susquehanna/ Sunshine State News	October 24–25, 2010		47%	45%
Univ. of South Fla. Polytechnic	October 23–27, 2010		44%	39%
Quinnipiac	October 25–31, 2010		43%	44%
Mason-Dixon	October 26–27, 2010		43%	46%
Rasmussen Reports	October 27, 2010		48%	45%
Susquehanna/ Sunshine State	October 29–31, 2010		46%	49%
Public Policy Polling	October 30–31, 2010		47%	48%

Hypothetical Polls

Bill McCollum (R) vs. Alex Sink (D) vs. Bud Chiles (I)

Poll source Dates administered Bill McCollum Alex Sink Bud Chiles Quinnipiac August 11–16, 2010 29% 31% 12% Mason-Dixon August 9–11, 2010 35% 37% 13% Ipsos/Florida Newspapers August 6–10, 2010 26% 30% 12% Rasmussen Reports August 2, 2010 27% 31% 20% The Florida Poll July 24–28, 2010 26% 27% 12% Quinnipiac July 22–27, 2010 27% 26% 14% Public Policy Polling July 16–18, 2010 23% 37% 14% Ipsos/Reuters July 9–11, 2010 30% 31% 12% Florida Chamber of Commerce June 9–13, 2010 30% 26% 15% Quinnipiac June 7, 2010 33% 25% 19% Rasmussen Reports June 7, 2010 40% 38% — Rasmussen Reports May 16, 2010 43% 35% — Mason-Dixon May 7, 2010 45% 36% — Rasmussen Reports March 18, 2010 47% 36% — Public Policy Polling March 5–8, 2010 44% 31% — Rasmussen Reports February 18, 2010 48% 35% — Fabrizo/McLaughlin January 31, 2010 41% 32% — Rasmussen Reports January 27, 2010 46% 35% — Quinnipiac January 27, 2010 41% 31% <1% Rasmussen Reports December 14, 2009 44% 39% — Research 2000 November 16–18, 2009 35% 33% — St. Pete Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 October 25–28, 2009 37% 38% — Rasmussen Reports October 20, 2009 46% 35% — Quinnipiac August 19, 2009 38% 34% 1% Public Opinion Strategies August 4–5, 2009 48% 37% — Rasmussen Reports June 22, 2009 42% 34% — Quinnipiac June 2–7, 2009 34% 38% 1% Mason Dixon May 14–18, 2009 40% 34% — Mason Dixon March 30 – April 1, 2009 36% 35% —

Election results

The 2010 governor's race was one of Florida's closest, decided by just over 60,000 votes. Unlike the concurrent Senate race, the governor's race remained in doubt late into the night. When polls closed, Scott had a lead, but as the night progressed, the margin narrowed. The next day, with over 99% of precincts reporting, Scott maintained about a 1% lead in the raw vote.^[2] Despite a small number of still-uncounted ballots from Palm Beach County, Sink's chances of winning were negligible, as Scott was still ahead by over 50,000 – much more than the 3,000 uncounted ballots, and more importantly, still above the threshold of 0.5% to trigger a mandatory recount.^[2] Sink conceded on Wednesday.

Exit polls showed that Scott won among independents and the two candidates split the Hispanic vote.^[2]

Florida gubernatorial election, 2010^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	Rick Scott	2,619,335	48.87%	-3.31%
	Democratic	Alex Sink	2,557,785	47.72%	+2.62%
	Independence	Peter Allen	123,831	2.31%
	Independent	C. C. Reed	18,842	0.35%
	Independent	Michael E. Arth	18,644	0.35%
	Independent	Daniel Imperato	13,690	0.26%
	Independent	Farid Khavari	7,487	0.14%
	Write-ins		121	0.00%
Plurality			61,550	1.15%	-5.92%
Turnout			5,359,735
	Republican gain from Independent		Swing

See also

• List of Governors of Florida


• United States gubernatorial elections, 2010

References

1. 
   ^ Martinez resigned his seat in December 2008, and Crist appointed Republican George LeMieux to serve the remainder of Martinez's term. LeMieux declined to run for election, and Crist was one of three major candidates in the election for U.S. Senate.
   


2. 
   ^ ^abcdef "Money, message, mad electorate make Scott Fla. gov". The Washington Post. November 3, 2010. Retrieved October 21, 2014..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


3. 
   ^ Derby, Kevin (September 2, 2010). "TEA Party Backs Rick Scott for Governor in November". Sunshine State News. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
   


4. 
   ^ Dockery, Paula (June 5, 2014). "Paula Dockery: Tea party stands by Rick Scott". Florida Today. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
   


5. 
   ^ "Exit Polls – Florida 2010 Governor". CNN. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
   


6. 
   ^ Florida Election Candidate Tracking System entry for Imperato
   


7. 
   ^ "Florida Democrats revel in gained ground". Tampa Bay Times. August 25, 2008. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
   


8. 
   ^ Cotterell, Bill (January 16, 2009). "Alex Sink won't run for U.S. Senate in 2010". Tallahassee Democrat.
   


9. 
   ^ Kam, Dara (July 24, 2010). "Low-profile Alex Sink faces even more obscure opponent in Democratic race for Florida governor". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
   


10. 
    ^ ^ab "Florida Gubernatorial Primary Results". Politico. August 24, 2010. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
    


11. 
    ^ "Florida governor announces run for Senate". CNN. May 12, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
    


12. 
    ^ Deslatte, Aaron (July 30, 2010). "Ruling lets Rick Scott spend all he wants in governor's race vs. Bill McCollum". The Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
    


13. 
    ^ Deslatte, Aaron (August 25, 2010). "Rick Scott beats Bill McCollum to end nasty GOP governor's primary fight". The Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
    


14. 
    ^ "Governor's Race: Rick, Scott, Alex Sink save harshest word for last debate". Orlando Sentinel,
    


15. 
    ^ Baribeau, Simone. "Florida Republican Scott Elected Governor After Record Spending". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
    


16. 
    ^ Madison, Lucy (April 14, 2011). "Rick Scott Wins Tight Florida Governor Race". CBS News. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
    


17. 
    ^ "Aide fired over Florida debate foul". CNN. October 26, 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
    


18. 
    ^ https://doe.dos.state.fl.us/elections/resultsarchive/Index.asp?ElectionDate=11/2/2010&DATAMODE= Archived October 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
    

External links

• Florida Division of Elections


• 
  Florida Governor Candidates at Project Vote Smart
  


• 
  Campaign contributions for 2010 Florida Governor from Follow the Money
  


• 
  Florida Governor 2010 from OurCampaigns.com


• 
  2010 Florida Gubernatorial General Election: All Head-to-Head Matchups graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
  


• 
  Election 2010: Florida Governor from Rasmussen Reports
  


• 
  2010 Florida Governor – McCollum vs. Sink from Real Clear Politics
  


• 
  2010 Florida Governor's Race from CQ Politics
  


• 
  Race Profile in The New York Times
  

Official campaign websites (Archived)

• Peter Allen for Governor


• Michael E. Arth for Governor


• Farid Khavari for Governor


• Rick Scott for Governor


• Alex Sink for Governor

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