Gwen Graham, a former U.S. representative and daughter of the late Florida Gov. Bob Graham, is running for lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket with gubernatorial candidate David Jolly. The pair filed qualifying paperwork in Tallahassee on June 10, according to WUSF.

Graham and Jolly will appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. Other candidates for lieutenant governor include Bryan Avila (Republican), Nicole Skelly (Libertarian), Benjiman Rojas, Joe Van Vactor, Juan Santana, Rachel Rodriguez and Ruben A. Coto, all with no party preference, according to BallotReady election data.

Candidate information

  • Name: Gwen Graham
  • Party: Democratic
  • Office sought: Florida lieutenant governor
  • Running mate: David Jolly (governor)
  • Born: Jan. 31, 1963, in Miami Lakes, Florida
  • Residence: Tallahassee, Florida, with husband Steve Hurm, according to ClickOrlando
  • Education: Bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1984); law degree from American University Washington College of Law (1988)
  • Family: Daughter of the late Bob Graham, former Florida governor and U.S. senator, who died in 2024, according to WUSF. Mother of three children.

Experience and public service

Graham won election to Florida's 2nd Congressional District in 2014, defeating Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland. She was one of only two Democrats nationally to unseat an incumbent Republican that year, according to her biography. She served until Jan. 3, 2017.

In Congress, she served on the Armed Services and Agriculture committees, according to her candidate questionnaire. She said she focused on public education, veterans issues and the environment, and worked with the state's congressional delegation on restoring Apalachicola Bay.

She ran for governor in 2018. She finished second in a seven-person Democratic primary with 31.3% of the vote, losing to Andrew Gillum by 47,289 votes.

Graham served as assistant secretary for legislation and congressional affairs at the U.S. Department of Education from Oct. 8, 2021, to Jan. 20, 2025. Before entering politics, she worked as director of employee relations at Leon County Schools and as an associate attorney at Andrews & Kurth in Washington, D.C.

According to her biography, Graham has performed more than 50 "Workdays," a tradition established by her father in which she spends full shifts working alongside Floridians at their jobs.

On the issues

Housing and insurance: Graham said in her questionnaire that the Jolly-Graham administration would work to lower homeowners insurance costs by creating a state catastrophic fund to remove hurricane coverage from the private market. She said they would fully fund the Sadowski Housing Trust Fund to expand workforce and affordable housing.

Public education and teacher pay: "Florida pays its teachers the least in the country. That breaks my heart. And it's the wrong direction for Florida's future," Graham said on her campaign website. She said the Jolly-Graham administration would pursue a 10-year effort to raise teacher pay and ensure all publicly funded choice schools meet the same academic and service standards.

Health care: Graham said in her questionnaire that she would work with legislative leaders to expand Medicaid and access to primary care through community health clinics, nonprofits and federally qualified health centers.

Congressional redistricting: Graham said she would be open to exploring an independent redistricting commission, arguing that voters should have more meaningful choices in general elections, according to NBC Miami.