Andrew Gillum, the former Florida gubernatorial candidate who was once hailed as one of the Democratic Party’s brightest young stars, was arrested in Alabama on three drug charges.
Gillum, 46, was booked into the Baldwin County Jail on Thursday on charges including possession of dangerous drugs, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released the following day after posting a combined $6,500 bond. Authorities have not yet disclosed what allegedly led to the arrest or identified the drugs involved.
The felony charge of possessing dangerous drugs is the most serious count and carries a potential sentence of up to five years in prison with a $7,500 fine under Alabama law. The marijuana possession and drug paraphernalia charges are misdemeanors, though each can also carry jail time and thousands of dollars in fines if he is convicted.
The arrest is the latest chapter in a years-long personal and legal unraveling for Gillum, whose political career effectively collapsed after his razor-thin loss to Republican Ron DeSantis in Florida’s 2018 governor’s race. Gillum lost by a mere 30,000 votes.
His troubles first exploded into public view in March 2020, when Miami Beach police responded to the Mondrian South Beach hotel after reports that a man had suffered an apparent drug overdose. Officers found Gillum inside the hotel suite with two other men. According to the police report, investigators recovered three small bags containing suspected crystal methamphetamine from the room, although no drugs were found on Gillum himself. Prosecutors never filed charges because there was insufficient evidence tying him directly to the narcotics.
The incident quickly became a tabloid sensation after one of the men found in the suite was identified as a male escort. Months later, Gillum publicly came out as bisexual during an interview with Tamron Hall, saying speculation following the hotel incident prompted him to speak openly about his sexuality for the first time. He denied having sex with either man in the hotel room and said his wife, R. Jai Gillum, had long known he was bisexual.
Gillum also revealed that after narrowly losing the governor’s race in 2018, he had fallen into a deep depression and developed a serious problem with alcohol. He said he had blacked out after drinking alone on the beach before waking up in the hotel room and entered rehab shortly after the incident.
But his legal troubles were far from over.
In 2022, federal prosecutors indicted Gillum on conspiracy, wire fraud, and false statement charges, accusing him and longtime political ally Sharon Lettman-Hicks of diverting campaign contributions and grant money for personal use while misleading donors and investigators. The indictment also alleged Gillum lied to the FBI during an investigation into corruption in the Tallahassee city government.
A federal jury acquitted Gillum of lying to the FBI in 2023, but failed to reach a verdict on the remaining wire fraud and conspiracy charges. After the judge declared a mistrial on those counts, prosecutors decided to dismiss them.
Gillum also faced an ethics investigation over his conduct while serving as mayor of Tallahassee. The Florida Commission on Ethics found probable cause that he improperly accepted gifts—including trips to Costa Rica and New York and tickets to the Broadway musical Hamilton—from individuals who were actually undercover FBI agents. Gillum agreed to pay a $5,000 civil fine as part of a settlement that resolved most of the allegations.
Gillum has not publicly commented on the Alabama charges. The Daily Beast has reached out to him for comment.
