Edward John Gurney Jr. (January 12, 1914 – May 14, 1996) was an attorney and an American politician based in Florida, where he served as a Representative and a United States Senator.

Born and raised in Portland, Maine, Gurney moved to Florida after his service in World War II.

Gurney started his work life after Duke by moving to Winter Park in Orange County in central Florida.

Gurney ran on a record that included votes against civil rights legislation (major bills were passed by Congress in 1964 and 1965 to protect constitutional rights of minorities and enforce their ability to vote), foreign aid, and what he labeled "expensive boondoggle," President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty.

Gurney was the administration's strongest supporter on the panel,[2] in contrast to the ranking Republican member, Howard Baker of Tennessee.

Gurney handily won the Senate seat, carrying all but four counties in the race against Democrat LeRoy Collins, a former governor.

But in 1970, Gurney and Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. opposed Cramer's nomination; they supported an intraparty rival, George Harrold Carswell.

He had been nominated that year to the Supreme Court and was rejected by the Senate, with critical comments about his "mediocrity and past "racism.

"[6] Carswell stepped down from his seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans in order to run for the Senate race.

[7] That fall, Cramer lost to the Democratic senatorial nominee, State Senator Lawton Chiles of Lakeland.

After the election, in his remaining months in office Governor Kirk selected Gurney's Orlando law firm as the counsel for the Florida Turnpike Authority, at a $100,000 annual retainer.

insuring office in Coral Gables, FL, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Government by making loan commitments to contributors to Gurney, Pelski was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.

Jack Eckerd, the drugstore magnate, won the Republican primary, but was defeated in the general election by the Democrat Richard Stone.