MIAMI, FLORIDA — Former Mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum secured the Democratic nomination in Florida’s hotly-contested gubernatorial primary, putting an end to a messy and expensive race.
“The job of the governor is to do what is best for everyone in the state of Florida, and I can’t wait to do that,” Gillum told supporters at a watch party Tuesday night. “This is not my moment, this is our moment […] We are in this place right now because of the every day person and I could not continue acknowledging that.”
“As mayor of Florida’s capital city, I humbly accept the Democratic nomination.”
Gillum had the distinction of being the only non-millionaire or billionaire in the race. But despite his lack of deep pockets, he beat them all. The other candidates included former Congresswoman Gwen Graham, multimillionaire businessman and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, Winter Park entrepreneur Chris King, and billionaire real estate giant Jeff Greene.
Gillum alluded to this difference at a rally Sunday, joking that he might be “the only candidate who still has a mortgage.”
“I believe that you can be a non-millionaire, come from a working class family, and make your way all the way to the top,” he said.
What Gillum lacked in funds, he made up for in grassroots organization. His campaign was endorsed by groups like Our Revolution and Indivisible. Billionaire Tom Steyer’s NextGen America poured over one million dollars into Gillum’s PAC. When Steyer was asked by The New Yorker which politicians represented the change the Democratic Party needs, Steyer definitively said, “Andrew Gillum.”
Florida’s Democratic voters appeared to be in agreement with Steyer.
Gillum waged the most progressive campaign of the bunch, running on a platform of Medicare For All, abolishing ICE, and criminal justice reform. While many in the Democratic establishment feared going too far to the left would alienate centrist voters, Gillum only dug his heels in further, saying it isn’t enough to win a general election and overturn over 20 years of Republican rule in Florida.
“Some of the people in this race for governor believe we’ve got to run as Republican-lite in order to win Florida…Our voters are going to stay home if they have to choose between someone pretending to be a Republican and someone who is a real Republican,” Gillum said at a rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) earlier this month.
If there are Democrats who think running another candidate to the mythical center-right will win us a general election, we have twenty years of evidence to prove them wrong.
It's time to run strong on our values. Are you with me? pic.twitter.com/n023PIr4Db
— Andrew Gillum (@AndrewGillum) August 4, 2018
The real test for Gillum will be the general election, a steep test in which a state that Trump won two percentage points in 2016 will elect a Democratic governor for the first time in over 20 years.
He will be running against Republican candidate Ron DeSantis, who received the “full endorsement” of President Donald Trump.
“We haven’t brought it all the way home just yet,” Gillum told supporters Tuesday.