Researching Wayne Mixson

Mixson grew up in New Brockton, Alabama, and later moved to Florida. During World War II, he joined the United States Navy and received a college education at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Florida. After graduation 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 entered politics in 1966 with an unsuccessful run in the Democratic primary election for a seat in the Florida Senate. 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 legislature. 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, he 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 US 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 Bob Martinez was inaugurated on January 6, 1987.