Andrew Gillum

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Andrew Gillum (2014)

Andrew Gillum Demese (* 26. July 1979 in Miami ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party and was 2014-2018 Mayor of Tallahassee , the capital of the US state of Florida . He was defeated in the 2018 election for the governorship of this state .

Career

Gillum was born in Miami and grew up with six siblings in simple circumstances. His father worked as a construction worker, his mother also made a living as a bus driver. After graduating from high school , he became the first in his family to graduate from college . He then moved to Tallahassee , where he did a Bachelor of Arts at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University . During college, Gillum got involved in a number of student associations and became interested in politics. In 2003 he was a successful candidate for Tallahassee City Council and was re-elected several times. In local politics, among other things, he campaigned for youth work and social projects to promote youth. In 2013 he played a key role in improving flood protection .

In April 2013, Gillum announced his candidacy as mayor of the city for the elections in autumn 2014, which he was then able to win against several competitors. He took up his new position as the successor to John Marks on November 21, 2014. In the first months of his tenure, he started various initiatives to improve the local infrastructure and invested in new educational programs. For example, the range of student tutoring has been expanded. In addition, as mayor, he campaigned for stricter gun laws in his city and increased the police presence on site.

Gillum announced his candidacy for governor of Florida in the 2018 election in April 2017 . Gillum, who belongs to the left-wing Democratic spectrum, made expanding health insurance coverage under Medicare , combating lobbying and tax avoidance , protecting the environment and investing in education and infrastructure his main themes. He was able to win the Democratic primary election on August 28, 2018, completely surprising. He prevailed against most polls against the favored former congressman Gwen Graham , the former mayor of Miami Beach , Philip Levine , and the businessman Jeff Greene. Gillum, who had significantly fewer financial resources than his competitors, benefited in particular from a strong mobilization of his supporters on the day of the primary. He was able to inspire himself with his election campaign, especially among young people. Among others, the former presidential candidate and US Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont spoke out for Gillum. His surprising success was the subject of nationwide US media coverage and in some cases was seen as further evidence of a shift to the left by the Democratic Party. With his nomination, Gillum is the first African American to run for one of the two major parties for governorship in Florida. In the actual gubernatorial election on November 6, 2018, Gillum met against right-wing Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis . DeSantis was actively supported in the Republican primaries by US President Donald Trump . Gillum has hardly made this a campaign topic so far, but denied Trump the suitability for the presidency. A few days after his nomination, he selected entrepreneur Chris King as his running mate for the office of lieutenant governor. King himself ran for governor in the Democratic primary, but received just over three percent of the vote. During the main election campaign against DeSantis, Gillum received support from prominent Democrats such as former US President Barack Obama and ex-Vice President Joe Biden .

Political observers rated the election as completely open. Gillum's opponent DeSantis made headlines several times after the primary through statements and connections criticized as racist , including the sentence that voters should not “monkey this up” with Gillum's election. According to previous polls, Gillum held a narrow lead over DeSantis. Gillum admitted his defeat after being clearly behind on election day and announced that he would continue to want to remain politically active. In the course of the counting of votes, especially in the democratically dominated Broward County in southern Florida, Gillum's preliminary deficit fell to 34,000 votes (0.41 percentage points), so that a recount of the votes was ordered on November 10th. The recount did not result in any significant change in the result, so that - unlike the simultaneous Senate election - no further manual recount took place and DeSantis' victory was certified. However, Gillum reserves the right to challenge the election results in court.

In the course of the gubernatorial election in 2018, he had renounced a second candidacy for mayor, so that he resigned from the office of mayor at the end of November 2018.

Private

Gillum married R. Jai Howard in May 2009 and they have three children. You live in Tallahassee.

Web links

Commons : Andrew Gillum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mayor Andrew Gillum ( Memento of the original dated August 30, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Tallahassee City website @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.talgov.com
  2. ↑ Gillum talks of hope, unity during swearing-in ceremony , Tallahassee Democrat, November 22, 2014 (English)
  3. ↑ Tallahassee businesses are critical to meeting children's needs , Tallahassee Democrat, March 28, 2015 (English)
  4. ↑ Bernie-backed progressive Andrew Gillum will face a Trump-styled Republican Ron DeSantis in Florida's governor's race , CNN, August 29, 2018 (English)
  5. ↑ Andrew Gillum names Chris King as his running mate on Florida's Democratic ticket , Miami Herald, September 6, 2018 (English)
  6. ↑ Florida Governor - DeSantis vs. Gillum , RealClearPolitics (English)
  7. ↑ Jerry Iannelli: Eight Times Ron DeSantis "Accidentally" Did Racist Stuff. In: Miami New Times , September 4, 2018.
  8. ↑ MattDixon, Marc Caputo: Florida readies for massive recount. In: Politico , November 8, 2018; Gregory Krieg, Ryan Nobles, Ellie Kaufman, Dan Merica: Florida recounts begin as tensions escalate across state. In: CNN.com , November 10, 2018.
  9. ↑ Ledyard King: With Florida recount over, Andrew Gillum's last chance to become governor rests with the courts. In: USA Today , November 15, 2018.
  10. ↑ Andrew Gillum's Biography. In: Vote Smart ; Alumni Spotlight: R. Jai Gillum, Class I. In: Florida Gubernatorial Fellows , August 30, 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Gillum, Andrew
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gillum, Andrew Demese
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH Miami , Florida, United States