12 Facts About Bill Gunter

Bill Gunter then served 12 years in statewide elected office as Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, and Fire Marshal of Florida.

Bill Gunter was a member of the Florida State Senate in 1966.

Bill Gunter was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives as the first member from Florida's 5th congressional district, a newly created district in the Orlando area, in the 1972 election.

Bill Gunter unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for the US Senate in 1974, but lost the primary to Richard Stone.

Bill Gunter was elected Florida State Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner in 1976 and served in this post until 1988.

In 1980, Bill Gunter ran again for the US Senate, defeating incumbent Senator Stone in the Democratic primary.

Bill Gunter then faced the Republican nominee Paula Hawkins, who had been the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in the 1978 gubernatorial election.

Bill Gunter lost to Hawkins, who won 51.7 percent of the vote to Bill Gunter's 48.3 percent.

Bill 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.

Bill Gunter made a final US Senate bid in 1988, narrowly losing the Democratic nomination to Buddy MacKay, who went on to lose the general election to Connie Mack III.

Bill Gunter worked at Rogers, Bill Gunter, Vaughn, a Tallahassee-based insurance agency and had been active in related trade associations and lobbying for the industry.

Bill Gunter died at his home in Tallahassee on April 8,2024, at the age of 89.