William Dawson Gunter Jr. (born July 16, 1934) is an American politician from the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

Early life and education

Gunter was born in

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the c ...

in 1934. He attended public schools in

Live Oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are not more closely related to each other than they are to other oaks. ...

and received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (B.S.A.) from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in 1956. While a student at Florida, he was a member of the

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national socia ...

Fraternity A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, "brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in ...

( Florida Upsilon chapter). Gunter briefly attended the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

in 1957 and served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1957 to 1958.

Political career

He was a member of the Florida State Senate in 1966. He was elected as a Democrat to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

as the first member from

Florida's 5th congressional district Florida's 5th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Florida. It extends along Florida's northern boundary from Jacksonville to Tallahassee. The district includes all of Baker, Gadsden, Hamilton and Madison ...

, a newly created district in the

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures r ...

area, in the 1972 election. He only served a single term. His voting record in the 93rd Congress was generally moderate.

Senate campaigns

Gunter unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1974, but lost the

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

to Richard Bernard Stone. He was elected Florida State Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner in 1976 and served in this post until 1988. In 1980, Gunter ran again for the U.S. Senate, defeating incumbent Senator Stone in the Democratic primary. He then faced the Republican nominee

Paula Hawkins Paula Hawkins may refer to: * Paula Hawkins (author) (born 1972), British novelist * Paula Hawkins (politician) Paula Hawkins (née Fickes; January 24, 1927 – December 4, 2009) was an American politician from Florida. She is the only woman el ...

, who had been the Republican nominee for

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

in the 1978 gubernatorial election. Gunter lost to Hawkins, who won 51.7 percent of the vote to Gunter's 48.3 percent. Gunter's loss was one of twelve Republican pickups in 1980, which produced a Republican majority in the Senate for the first time since 1954. Gunter made a final U.S. Senate bid in 1988, narrowly losing the Democratic nomination to

Buddy MacKay Kenneth Hood "Buddy" MacKay Jr. (born March 22, 1933) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 42nd governor of Florida for 24 days from December 1998 to January 1999, upon the death of Lawton Chiles. A member of the Democratic P ...

, who went on to lose the general election to Connie Mack III.

Post-politics

In recent years, Gunter has worked at Rogers, Gunter, Vaughn, a

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

-based insurance agency and been active in related

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. An industry tra ...

s and

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for the industry.

References

External links

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunter, Bill Democratic Party Florida state senators University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences alumni 1934 births Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Florida Living people State Treasurers of Florida State insurance commissioners of the United States