Jeb Bush finished the GOP gubernatorial primary race well ahead of his competition but failed to get enough of the vote to avoid a runoff. Gov. Lawton Chiles easily won the Democratic nomination.
Another candidate with White House connections, first brother-in-law Hugh Rodham, also won a runoff spot in a four-way race to challenge first-term Republican Sen. Connie Mack. Mack was unopposed in his primary.Bush, the 41-year-old son of the former president, came within 4 percentage points of winning the nomination outright in Thursday's primary. He was confident enough to call his dad.
"I called him and told him he can go to sleep, that he didn't have to worry about it," said Bush, a Miami developer.
Bush, whose brother, George W., faces Democratic Gov. Ann Richards in Texas this fall, will face Secretary of State Jim Smith in an Oct. 4 runoff. But he talked about that race as if it were a formality, and urged Republicans to concentrate instead on beating Chiles.
"We need to begin the process of uniting the party and focusing on the general election," he said.
Chiles, who has never lost an election in 35 years of Florida politics, has seen his sagging popularity boosted by his handling of the Cuban refugee crisis.
"We are looking forward to this campaign more than any other campaign we've ever had," the governor said. "We're going to have that clear choice."
With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Bush had 46 percent of the vote.