In the general election campaign, Chiles faced U.S. representative William C. Cramer of St. Petersburg, the first Republican to have served in Congress from Florida since Reconstruction. Cramer, a graduate of Harvard Law School, questioned Chiles's votes as a state senator on several matters regarding insurance. One law increased automobile liability rates by 50 percent over two years, and another raised premiums for school bus insurance, at a time that Chiles's insurance agency in Lakeland held the policy on the Polk County School Board, but such "conflict-of-interest" accusations seemed to have little political effect.