Wayne Mixson

John Wayne Mixson (June 16, 1922 – July 8, 2020) was an American politician and farmer in Florida who served as the 12th lieutenant governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987, and as the 39th governor of Florida for three days in January 1987.

John Wayne Mixson was born on June 16, 1922, in New Brockton, Alabama, to Cecil Marion Mixson and Mineola Moseley.

Mixson's great-grandfather and great-uncle had both served as members of the Alabama Legislature.

In 1941, he graduated from high school and moved to Florida.

In 1942, Mixon joined the United States Navy.

He served in the United States Navy during World War II, then attended college at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania before moving to Florida and finishing his degree at the University of Florida in 1947.

He became an active member of the American Farm Bureau Federation and served in multiple positions in the organization from the county to statewide level both before and after his terms in elected office.

Mixson attended Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania before graduating from the University of Florida in 1947, with a degree in business administration.

On December 27, 1947, he married Margie Grace in Graceville, Florida.

During the 1950s he served as president of the Jackson County Farm Bureau.

During the 1950s Mixson supported Republican presidential nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Mixson was selected to replace Sandy Johnson as the Florida Farm Bureau's field representative in North Florida and took the position on June 15, 1954.

In 1955, he was selected to replace Sandy Johnson as organizational director of the Florida Farm Bureau.

From 1958 to 1960, he served as the southern regional director for the national Farm Bureau.

In 1960, he became the director of industry relations and commodity activities for the Florida Farm Bureau.

In 1961, Mixson resigned from his position within the Florida Farm Bureau to manage his farm and considered running in the 9th congressional district during the 1962 elections.

In 1963, he was selected to serve on the board of directors of the Jackson County Farm Bureau and was reelected in 1964, and 1966.

During the 1964 presidential election he supported Republican nominees Barry Goldwater and William E. Miller.

He also served as a member of the Florida Citizens For Goldwater-Miller committee.

In 1965, E. H. Finlayson, president of the Florida Farm Bureau, announced that he would not seek reelection, and Mixson ran to succeed him, but later withdrew.

Art Karst was selected to replace Finlayson while Mixson was selected to serve as vice president.

Mixson entered politics in 1966, with an unsuccessful run in the Democratic primary election for a seat in the Florida Senate.

Mixson ran for the Democratic nomination for the state Senate from the 6th district in 1966, but placed third behind Bill Pearce and L. P. Gibson.

Mixson served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1967 to 1978 prior to being elected as lieutenant governor.

He was a lifelong conservative Democrat, and though he served in the Florida legislature and as Florida's lieutenant governor as a member of that party, he supported a mix of Democratic and Republican candidates for various state and national offices after retiring from elected office.

Mixson was born and raised in New Brockton, Alabama.

In 1967, he won election to the Florida House of Representatives from Jackson County in the Florida panhandle and served a total of six terms as a state legislator.

In 1967, he ran for the Democratic nomination for the state House of Representatives from the 11th district.

In the primary he defeated incumbent Representative Coy J. Mitchell and later faced no opposition in the general election.

In 1968 and 1970, he won reelection.

During the 1970s Mixson would serve as the only full-time farmer on the Agriculture committee in the Florida House of Representatives or as the only full-time farmer in the state House.

In 1977, he had a net worth of $256,200, assets worth $1,051,400, with $564,900 coming from his 1,883 acres of farm land and $150,000 from his cattle, and an income of $298,592, with a majority coming from cattle, peanuts, and grain sales.

In 1978, Bob Graham, a state senator from South Florida, tapped Mixson to be his running mate to balance the ticket in his campaign for governor.

They won, and Mixson was sworn in as Florida's 12th lieutenant governor in January 1979.

The ticket of Graham and Mixson were reelected in 1982.

but Graham was prohibited from running for a third term in 1986 due to Florida's term limit law.

Instead, Graham ran for and won election to the United States Senate.

Mixson considered running for governor to replace Graham in 1986, but ultimately decided to retire from electoral politics and Republican Bob Martinez won the office.

Graham's term in the U.S. Senate began three days before his term as governor ended, so he resigned effective January 3, 1987 to assume his new duties in Washington.

As stipulated in state law, lieutenant governor Wayne Mixson briefly assumed the office of governor, and he held the office for about 72 hours before Martinez was inaugurated on January 6, 1987.