Louis A. Bafalis

Who is Louis A. Bafalis?

Louis Arthur Bafalis, usually known as L. A. "Skip" Bafalis, is a retired American politician, who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida's 10th congressional district.

A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Bafalis graduated in 1948 from Manchester Central High School in Manchester, New Hampshire, then attended until 1952 Saint Anselm College in neighboring Goffstown, New Hampshire. He was in the United States Army from 1953 to 1956, having reached the rank of captain. After military service, he moved to Florida in 1955 to work as an investment banker.

Bafalis was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1964 and then to the Florida Senate in 1966 and 1968. In 1970, he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor, having lost his party's nomination to Claude R. Kirk, Jr., the controversial incumbent. Kirk also defeated another Republican, Jack Eckerd of Clearwater, but he was then unseated by the Democrat Reubin Askew of Pensacola. In that same election, U.S. Representative William C. Cramer of St. Petersburg lost the U.S. Senate race to Democrat Lawton Chiles of Lakeland. The intraparty divisions stemming from the defeat of both Kirk and Cramer are believed to have damaged the prospects of Florida Republicans for at least a full decade.