Andrew Gillum

Andrew Demetric Gillum (born July 26, 1979) is an American former politician who served as the 126th mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, from 2014 to 2018.

Gillum graduated from Gainesville High School in 1998 and was recognized by the Gainesville Sun as one of the city's "persons of the year."

He then moved to Tallahassee to attend Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) to major in political science.

Gillum served as president of the FAMU Student Government Association from 2001 to 2002 and was the first student member of the FAMU Board of Trustees.

A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a Tallahassee city commissioner from 2003 until 2014, first elected at the age of 23.

He was recognized by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation as "emerging leader for 2003."

Gillum was also a board member of the Black Youth Vote Coalition, a program of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation in Washington, D.C. Gillum was elected to the Tallahassee City Commission prior to the completion of his college studies.

In 2003, aged 23, Gillum was elected to the Tallahassee City Commission for a one-year term, becoming the youngest person to be elected to the commission.

Gillum was a political science student at FAMU when he was elected.

He was subsequently elected to a full four-year term, in 2004, garnering 72 percent of the vote, and was reelected in 2008 and again in 2012.

Gillum served a one-year term as Mayor Pro Tem from November 10, 2004, through November 9, 2005.

The joint body of city and county commissioners, known as the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency, elected him to serve as their chairperson for a year (January 2005 through December 2005).

Gillum has also served as lead commissioner for the Long Range Community Based Target Issue Committee.

In 2005, Gillum was one of the commissioners who voted to give themselves a new retirement benefit through deferred compensation.

The policy was later repealed by the commission after public outrage.

During his eleven years as a city commissioner, Gillum championed a number of community enrichment projects.

The Digital Harmony Project is an initiative championed by Gillum with support from the City of Tallahassee, local businesses and technology partnerships.

Digital Harmony won the Significant Achievement Award in the Web & e-Government Services category from the Public Technology Institute.

For the first two years, it provided every incoming Nims Middle School sixth and seventh-grader with a new desktop computer, free internet access and online academic curriculum training on core subjects.

The school holds ongoing training courses for parents and students on basic computer skills and school curriculum.

This effort places 200 computers into the homes of Nims Middle School students.

Gillum championed the opening of the first Tallahassee Teen Center, the Palmer Munroe Center, which serves as a safe haven for many area youth and operates a restorative justice program.

Restorative justice programs have shown significant success, compared to non-restorative measures, in improving victim and/or offender satisfaction, increasing offender compliance with restitution, and decreasing the recidivism of offenders.

Gillum stressed these results as some of the reasons for the great importance of the Palmer Munroe Center.

Gillum supported the city's development project of Cascades Park, located in downtown Tallahassee.

The park was built in 2013 and doubles as a storm-water management facility, protecting local neighborhoods from flooding.

In April 2013, Andrew Gillum announced his intention to run for mayor of Tallahassee.

Gillum ran against three opponents: Larry Hendricks, Zach Richardson, and write-in candidate Evin Matthews.

In the August 26, 2014 nonpartisan primary, Gillum defeated Richardson and Hendricks; capturing 76 percent of the vote with 19,658 votes.

On August 27, 2014, write-in candidate Evin Matthews withdrew from the race, resulting in Gillum becoming mayor-elect.

Before taking office, Gillum met with various mayors to learn from their successes.

In 2018, Gillum was the nominee of the Florida Democratic Party to be the governor of Florida.

He had won the Democratic primary election over a field of five other candidates, including former U.S. representative Gwen Graham and former Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine.

In the general election, he lost in a close race to Republican U.S. representative Ron DeSantis.

Gillum's margin of defeat was just 34,000 votes (0.4%), making the election one of the closest gubernatorial races in modern American history.

In 2022, Gillum was indicted on 21 felony counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy, and making false statements, for allegedly diverting money raised during the campaign to a company controlled by one of his top advisors.

The jury found Gillum not guilty on the charge of making false statements and was hung on the remaining counts.

In May 2023, federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the remaining charges against Gillum.

Gillum was born in Miami and raised in Gainesville, Florida.

He is the fifth of seven children born to Charles and Frances Gillum, respectively a construction worker and a school bus driver.