Gwen Graham, a former congresswoman and daughter of the late Gov. Bob Graham, is running for lieutenant governor on David Jolly's Democratic ticket.

Clearwater voters will see the race on their Nov. 3 ballot. Jolly named Graham as his running mate on June 10, and the pair filed qualifying paperwork in Tallahassee the same day, according to WUSF. Graham said in a candidate questionnaire submitted to the Clearwater Sentinel that she and Jolly align on housing, health care, education and what she described as a "no data centers" stance.

Candidate information

Full name: Gwen Graham

Date of birth: Jan. 31, 1963

Party: Democratic

Residence: Graham and her husband, Stephen Hurm, live in Tallahassee, according to ClickOrlando/WKMG. She was born in Miami Lakes.

Education: Bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1984); juris doctorate from American University Washington College of Law (1988), according to Wikipedia.

Family: Daughter of the late Bob Graham, former Florida governor and U.S. senator, who died in 2024, according to WUSF. Graham is a graduate of Leon High School in Tallahassee and has described herself as a product of the Florida public school system.

Other candidates in this race: Bryan Avila (Republican), Benjiman Rojas (No Party Preference), Joe Van Vactor (No Party Preference), Juan Santana (No Party Preference), Nicole Skelly (Libertarian), Rachel Rodriguez (No Party Preference) and Ruben A. Coto (No Party Preference), according to BallotReady election data.

Experience and public service

Graham represented Florida's 2nd Congressional District after winning election in 2014. She defeated Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, one of only two Democrats nationally to unseat an incumbent Republican that year, according to Wikipedia. Her term ended Jan. 3, 2017.

In Congress, she served on the Armed Services and Agriculture committees, according to her questionnaire. She said she focused on public education, veterans issues and the environment, and co-sponsored legislation with Sen. Bill Nelson opposing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

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

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

Graham has continued a tradition started by her father called "Workdays," spending full shifts working alongside Floridians at their jobs. She performed more than 50 such workdays during her campaigns for Congress and governor, according to Wikipedia.

On the issues

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

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

Public education and teacher pay: Graham said on her campaign website that "Florida pays its teachers the least in the country. That breaks my heart." She said the 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.

Congressional redistricting: Graham said she would be open to exploring an independent redistricting commission to draw political boundaries, according to NBC Miami. She argued voters should have more meaningful choices in general elections rather than having races decided during party primaries.