Overview & History

“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.”
– President Ronald Reagan, October 27, 1964

The Republican Party of Florida has a long and proud history. Our roots run deep, with a foundation built on the core principles of lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. For well over a decade, the Republican-led Legislature in the State of Florida has focused on innovative ideas to make revolutionary gains in our education system, keep our communities safe, and protect our most vulnerable citizens. Our work, however, started long before that:

1867	Official birth of the Republican Party of Florida
1868	Constitutional Convention meets, Harrison Reed is elected as Florida’s first Republican Governor
1873	Marcellus Lovejoy Stearns is named Florida’s first Republican Senate President
1966	Claude Kirk elected first Republican Governor since 1872
1987	Bob Martinez sworn in as Governor, marking an end to over twenty years of Democrat leadership in state government
1992	Ander Crenshaw becomes the first Republican Senate President since Reconstruction
1994	Republicans gain control of the Senate, Jim Scott is the first Republican Senate President that serves a full two-year term
1996	Republicans gain a majority in the Florida House, the first time since 1874; Toni Jennings becomes the first Republican woman Senate President; Daniel Webster becomes the first Republican Speaker since Reconstruction; for the second cycle in a row, no incumbent Republican state legislator loses reelection
1998	Jeb Bush is elected Governor, and for the first time ever, Florida enjoys a Republican Legislature, Cabinet, and Executive Branch
2000	John McKay becomes Senate President and Tom Feeney becomes House Speaker
2002	Floridians reelect a Republican Governor for the first time in state history and Senator Jim King becomes Senate President
2002	Johnnie Byrd is elected House Speaker
2003	Former Senate President Toni Jennings, who served a historic two-term presidency, becomes Florida’s 16th Lieutenant Governor, the first woman to hold the office in state history
2004	Tom Lee becomes Senate President and Allan Bense becomes House Speaker
2004	Floridians elect Mel Martinez to the United States Senate, where he becomes the only Cuban-American immigrant to serve in the Senate
2007	Marco Rubio, the first Cuban-American to serve as Speaker of the Florida House, and Senate President Ken Pruitt continue to lead their chambers
2008	U.S. Senator John McCain wins the Florida Presidential Preference Primary.
2010	State Senator John Thrasher is elected Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. Rick Scott wins the race for governor, allowing Republicans to retain control of the governor’s office for sixteen straight years, while his running mate, Jennifer Carroll, becomes the first African American woman to serve as Lt. Governor in the state of Florida. Marco Rubio is elected to the U.S. Senate. Republicans sweep elections for all three cabinet positions and reclaim super majorities in the state Senate and state House.
2011	(January) Dave Bitner is elected Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. Lenny Curry is elected Vice Chairman. RPOF National Committeewoman Sharon Day is elected Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee.
2011	(September) Chairman Dave Bitner, after a heroic battle against Lou Gehrig’s Disease, passes away. Chairman Bitner served with distinction to the end and is renowned for setting RPOF back on a course to financial and organizational success. Before his passing, Chairman Bitner announces his desire to see Vice Chairman Lenny Curry elected to serve as the next Chairman. Chairman Lenny Curry is unanimously elected, again showing the unifying spirit of Dave Bitner.
2011	(September) RPOF hosts Presidency 5, an activist event in Orlando where leading Republican presidential contenders participate in a nationally-televised debate and headline-making straw poll. P5 sets the path for Florida Republicans to play a crucial role in returning a Republican to the White House in 2012.