Gwen Graham is the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor on David Jolly's ticket in the Nov. 3 general election. Graham, a former U.S. representative, is the daughter of the late Florida Gov. Bob Graham.

Graham and Jolly filed qualifying paperwork in Tallahassee on June 10, according to WUSF. Graham said in a candidate questionnaire submitted to The Sarasota Record that she and Jolly align on housing, healthcare, education and opposition to data centers.

Candidate information

  • Full name: Gwen Graham
  • Date of birth: Jan. 31, 1963
  • Residence: Tallahassee, Florida
  • Party: Democratic
  • 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: Married to Steve Hurm; mother of three children
  • Family legacy: Daughter of the late Bob Graham, former Florida governor and U.S. senator, who died in 2024

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 a Republican incumbent that year, according to Wikipedia.

In Congress, she served on the Armed Services and Agriculture committees, according to her questionnaire. She said she worked on public education, veterans issues and environmental protection, including opposing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico alongside Jolly.

Graham served as assistant secretary for legislation and congressional affairs at the U.S. Department of Education from 2021 to 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.

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

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

On the issues

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

Healthcare: Graham said she would work with legislative leaders to expand Medicaid and increase 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. She called for a 10-year effort to raise teacher pay and require all publicly funded choice schools to meet the same academic and service standards, according to her questionnaire.

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

Seven other candidates are listed for lieutenant governor: Bryan Avila (Republican), Benjiman Rojas, Joe Van Vactor, Juan Santana, Rachel Rodriguez, and Ruben A. Coto (all No Party Preference), and Nicole Skelly (Libertarian).