Bill McBride (candidate)

Infobox Politician
name = Bill McBride


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candidate = Governor of Florida
term_start = November 2, 2002
runningmate = Tom Rossin
opponent = Jeb Bush (R)
incumbent = Jeb Bush (R)
birth_date = May 10, 1945 (age 62)
birth_place = Belleville, Illinois
death_date =
death_place =
party = Democratic
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relations =
spouse = Alex Sink
civil partner =
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occupation = Attorney
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Bill McBride (born May 10, 1945) is an American lawyer and politician.

A Democrat, he challenged Jeb Bush for Florida governor in the 2002 gubernatorial election. Bush won 56-43 percent, making him the first Republican governor of Florida to serve two terms. McBride had earlier defeated former United States Attorney General Janet Reno in the Democratic primary.

McBride was born in Belleville, Illinois and grew up in Leesburg, Florida. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1967. While at UF, McBride served as treasurer of Florida Blue Key and was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame. McBride served in the Marine Corps from 1968 to 1971. McBride earned a Bronze Star with a Valor device. Upon his return to the United States, McBride taught at Officer Candidates School at Marine Corps Base Quantico.

Upon leaving the Marine Corps, McBride attended the University of Florida Law School.

While studying law he fell under the tutelage of Chesterfield Smith, a powerful politically-connected Florida attorney and then president of the American Bar Association. McBride left law school for a time to serve as Smith's assistant at the ABA. After graduation, McBride joined Smith's Tampa law firm, Holland & Knight, where he rose in the ranks until becoming managing partner in 1992. McBride's tenure at the helm of Holland & Knight has been the source of some controversy. He is credited with expanding the firm's size and power and with helping to make it the seventh-largest firm in the U.S. by number of lawyers employed at his retirement in 2001. At the time the firm ranked 21st in terms of revenue but 98th in terms of profit-per-partner, and had "become known as a reputable, but flabby, operation, long on underproductive partners and comparatively short on workhorse associates." [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32140-2002Oct15?]

McBride is a father of two children with his wife, Adelaide "Alex" Sink, a former statewide president for Nationsbank (now Bank of America) and current Chief Financial Officer of Florida.

Since 2003 Bill McBride has been a partner with the law firm of Barnett, Bolt, Kirkwood, Long & McBride in Tampa. He is also chair of the board of the investment banking firm Hyde Park Capital Partners, LLC, with offices in Tampa and Charlotte, North Carolina. McBride is a member of the American Law Institute and is a member of the board of directors of the Warrington College of Business Administration's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Florida.