Andrew Gillum, Who Nearly Beat Ron Desantis for Florida Governor, Was Arrested in Alabama on Three Drug Charges

He came within about 33,000 votes of running Florida. Six years later, police in Daphne, Alabama booked him on possession of dangerous drugs, drug paraphernalia, and marijuana.

Daphne, Alabama police pulled Gillum’s vehicle over on U.S. Highway 98 near North Main Street just before 11 p.m. on July 2 after officers observed erratic driving. An officer spotted a glass pipe in plain view on the center console, and a search of the car turned up several rolled marijuana cigarettes and three packages of a substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine.

Andrew Gillum and Sen. Bill Nelson joined Barack Obama for lunch at Coyo Taco in Miami in November 2018, during Obama’s campaign swing through Florida on their behalf. Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images.

Gillum, 46, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance (a Class D felony), possession of drug paraphernalia, and second-degree possession of marijuana. He was booked into the Baldwin County Jail at 10:44 p.m. and released the next day.

It’s his first arrest on drug charges. In March 2020, Miami Beach police responded to a suspected overdose at the Mondrian South Beach, where paramedics treated another man and officers recovered three small bags of suspected crystal methamphetamine in the room. No one was charged because the drugs weren’t found on any person.

Andrew Gillum’s booking photo, released by the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office.

In the 2018 governor’s race, Gillum came within roughly 33,000 votes of Ron DeSantis out of more than 8 million ballots cast, the closest margin in a Florida gubernatorial race in modern history and close enough to trigger a machine recount.

Andrew Gillum speaks at New Mount Olive Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale on November 11, 2018, urging supporters during the Florida gubernatorial recount. Photo by Joe Skipper / Getty Images.

Gillum served as mayor of Tallahassee from 2014 to 2018. He won the 2018 Democratic primary for governor as the party’s first Black nominee and first openly LGBTQ+ nominee before losing to DeSantis in the general.

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