How does government work in Florida?

What may surprise you here

• Florida elects its attorney general, chief financial officer, and agriculture commissioner as a cabinet, but the secretary of state is appointed by the governor. source
• School districts follow county lines: every county is a school district. source

Legislature

Name

Florida Legislature source

Florida Senate: seats

40 source

Florida Senate: term in years

4 source

Florida House of Representatives: seats

120 source

Florida House of Representatives: term in years

2 source

Term limits

8 years in each chamber source

Structure set by: Art. III, s. 1.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years

4 source

Term limit

No more than two consecutive terms source

Next regular election

2030 source

Lieutenant governor

joint ticket source

Attorney general

elected source

Attorney general’s term in years

4 source

Secretary of state

appointed by governor source

Courts

Highest court

Supreme Court of Florida source

Intermediate appeals court

District Courts of Appeal source

Main trial court

Circuit Courts source

How high-court judges reach the bench

mixed: merit selection with retention for appellate courts, election for circuit and county judges source

Local government

Called

county source

How many

67 source

Cities and towns

Municipalities may be established or abolished by general or special law, and counties may adopt charters. source

Schools

Each county is one school district, run by an elected school board. source

Elections

Chief election official

Secretary of State source

Who runs elections locally

County supervisors of elections source

Primary type

closed source

Regular governor elections fall in

even source

Citizen initiatives

constitutional amendments only (no statutory initiative) source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Ron DeSantis RRepublican, in office since January 8, 2019. source

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Sources