Democratic Politician Arrested on Drug Charges in Alabama

Andrew Gillum, the former Democratic rising star who came within roughly 30,000 votes of defeating Ron DeSantis in Florida’s 2018 governor’s race, is back in legal trouble after being arrested on multiple drug-related charges in Alabama.

Gillum was taken into custody Thursday night by police officers in Daphne, Alabama, before being booked into the Baldwin County jail, according to online law enforcement records obtained by TMZ.

The former Tallahassee mayor was charged with possession of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.

Authorities have not yet revealed what allegedly led to the arrest, and the Daphne Police Department has not released additional details surrounding the incident.

The arrest marks another troubling chapter for Gillum, whose once-promising political career unraveled following a highly publicized incident at a South Beach hotel in 2020.

Gillum and another man were found dazed and confused inside a room at the Mondrian Hotel in Miami Beach after a third man called 911 over concerns that Gillum’s companion may have suffered an overdose.

Police body-camera footage released after the incident showed several prescription pill bottles scattered inside the hotel room. Officers also removed three small bags containing methamphetamine.

Gillum and the other man were never formally charged in connection with the drugs. Prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to prove that either man possessed them because the substances were not found directly on their bodies.

Gillum had previously been viewed as one of the Democratic Party’s most promising young politicians.

After serving as mayor of Tallahassee from 2014 to 2018, he won Florida’s Democratic gubernatorial primary and faced Republican Ron DeSantis in the general election.

DeSantis ultimately defeated Gillum by a razor-thin margin of approximately 30,000 votes, launching the Republican’s rise to national political prominence while Gillum’s career later collapsed amid scandal and legal controversy.