Gillum gives up fight for Florida governor, congratulates DeSantis

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Mayor Andrew Gillum congratulated Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis on Facebook Live Saturday and thanked the thousands of grassroots supporters for their work on his campaign and their commitment and dedication to building a better Florida.

Gillum encouraged his campaign’s supporters to keep fighting for what they believe in and no matter the obstacles or challenges.

“Now that we are rounding that process out, R. Jai and I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Mr. DeSantis on becoming the governor of the great state of Florida,” Gillum said. “I’ll tell you this has been the journey of our lives. We’ve been so honored by the support that we received from people really all the way across the country. R. Jai and I know that we could not have done this by ourselves. We wouldn’t be here today were it were not for all who poured into us, who supported us, who encouraged us all along the way.”

Transcript of Gillum’s remarks below:

Hey everybody, it’s Andrew Gillum and my beautiful, lovely wife R. Jai Gillum. We are here hanging out at a park in fact just frankly enjoying a little bit of downtime together. But we wanted to interrupt a little bit of our break to first thank everybody who helped us along this journey. As we worked incredibly hard to not only win an election quite frankly but to build and strengthen a movement for everyday people again in the state of Florida.

We said that we would fight until the last vote is counted. Obviously we are now closing out the hand recount phase in two of the races. We wanted to make sure that every single vote including those that were undervotes, overvotes, as long as it was a legally cast vote we wanted those votes to be counted. Now that we are rounding that process out, R. Jai and I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Mr. DeSantis on becoming the governor of the great state of Florida.

I’ll tell you this has been the journey of our lives. We’ve been so honored by the support that we received from people really all the way across the country. R. Jai and I know that we could not have done this by ourselves. We wouldn’t be here today were it were not for all who poured into us, who supported us, who encouraged us all along the way.

We also want you to know that even though this election maybe beyond us that there was this. Although nobody wanted to be Governor more than me that this was not just about an election cycle. This was about creating the type of change in this state that really allows for the voices of everyday people to show up again in our government, in our state, and in our communities.

We know that this fight continues. In spite of the outcome of this election, R. Jai and myself are committing ourselves alongside each and every one of you. More than 4 million of you decided you wanted a different direction for this state of Florida. We want you to know that we see you, that we hear you, and that your voices will continue to power us as we still stand on the front lines right alongside you to make this a state that works for all of us.

On the issues that we cared about, on the issues that we championed, the issues that we feel even still today so passionately about still matter to us. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that over the coming weeks, over the coming months that we do what we can to perfect our electoral system. We need to update Florida’s election system and bring it to the 21st century. Then once we get beyond that, we got to do everything that we can to make ensure that the issues that we all care about are the ones that win the day ultimately.

You win that, yes in many cases through elections but you also win that through dedicated and committed and hard work that is required to transform communities, to transform neighborhoods, to transform the state of Florida. Again, this has been the honor of our life and R. Jai would love if you wanted to say a quick so long at least for the time being.

R. Jai Gillum: Sure. I just wanted to thank you all. We are honored, we are honored by your support. We are honored by your prayers. We are honored by everybody who sowed a seed into this campaign. All of our volunteers were phenomenal. So we just wanted to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I’ve been on Team Gillum for a long time and I am so proud to have so many people join our team. Just know that we are still committed to making our community a better place, to making the state of Florida a better place. This is not the last of Andrew and Gillum. But thank you all so much for all of our support.

Mayor Gillum: That’s right and all I have to say is stay tuned there will be more to come. This fight for Florida continues and I just wanted to thank you all for being along with us for at least this part of the journey, but the journey continues.