Hugh H. Gibson

Gibson was born in Camden, New Jersey. He was a police officer for twelve years in New Jersey and served as the Chief of the Cherry Hill Fire Department before moving to Florida in 1992.^[1]

In 1995, Gibson ran for the Lady Lake Town Commission in Ward 1 against incumbent Commissioner Ron Thomas.^[2] Gibson won in a landslide, winning 67 percent of the vote to Thomas's 33 percent.^[3] He was re-elected without opposition in 1997.^[4] In 1998, while still serving as a member of the Town Commission, Gibson was elected to the Leesburg Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees, defeating David Harden with 77 percent of the vote.^[5] He was elected by the Town Commission to serve as Mayor from 1999 to 2000,^[1] and was re-elected to the Commission in 1999 unopposed.^[6]

In 2000, Republican State Representative Everett A. Kelly was term-limited and unable to seek re-election. Gibson ran to succeed him in the 42nd district, which was based in Lake, Marion, and Sumter counties, and included Bushnell, Mount Dora, and The Villages.^[7] He faced former Center Hill Police Chief Will Pruitt in the Republican primary,^[8] and defeated him in a landslide, winning 60 percent of the vote.^[9] In the general election, Gibson faced Democratic nominee John Martin, the Chairman of the Marion County Planning Commission and a retired Lockheed Martin executive, and Libertarian nominee John Wayne Smith.^[10] Gibson defeated both by a wide margin, receiving 55 percent of the vote to Martin's 42 percent and Smith's 3 percent.^[11]

Gibson ran for re-election in 2002, and was only challenged by Libertarian nominee Fred Levin, who ran for office as part of a statewide effort by the Libertarian Party of Florida to recruit candidates.^[12] Gibson easily defeated him to win a second term, receiving 82 percent of the vote.^[13] In 2004, Gibson again only faced a Libertarian challenger, John Wayne Smith, and defeated him in a landslide, winning 75 percent of the vote.^[14]

In 2006, Gibson ran for re-election to a fourth term, and he was challenged by Democratic nominee Robert Thompson, a former teacher at East Ridge High School.^[15] Gibson ultimately defeated Thompson, winning 58 percent of the vote to Thompson's 42 percent.^[16]

Gibson was term-limited in 2008 and unable to seek re-election.^[17]