Top Democrat Andrew Gillum came within 30,000 votes of becoming governor of Florida in 2018.
He has spent the years since working his way through a huge drug scandal, a federal fraud indictment, and a criminal trial.
Now he’s in handcuffs once again.
Gillum, 46, was arrested in Daphne, Alabama, and booked on three charges: possession of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of marijuana, according to jail records obtained by TMZ and confirmed by The Daily Caller.
He was released the following day.
Gillum has a long and troubled history with drug abuse.
In 2020, paramedics responded to a hotel in South Beach, Florida, after a man inside the room became worried his lover had overdosed. Responding officers found Gillum and a male prostitute drugged and in a confused state inside the hotel room. Police found numerous prescription pill bottles and three small bags of methamphetamine inside the room, but prosecutors ultimately declined to charge Gillum or his male prostitute.
Gillum later checked into rehab, came out as bisexual, and attempted a political comeback that never materialized.
In 2022, a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of wire fraud, false statements, and conspiracy, for illegally soliciting funds from donors under false pretenses. At trial in 2023, jurors acquitted him on one count of lying to the FBI but deadlocked on the fraud charges. A federal judge subsequently dismissed the remaining charges.
Gillum served as the mayor of Tallahassee from 2014 to 2018 before winning Florida’s Democratic gubernatorial primary in a major upset. His general election loss to Ron DeSantis was one of the closest races of the 2018 midterm cycle, decided by just 0.4% of the vote — a margin that took weeks to confirm after a recount.
DeSantis is now in his second term as Florida’s governor.