Andrew Gillum is the Democratic nominee in the election for Governor of Florida. He is 39-years-old and was born in Miami, Florida. He was the youngest person in history to be elected to Tallahassee’s City Commission before he went on to become Mayor. Andrew Gillum is the first black nominee by a major party in Florida’s history.
Tallahassee’s government is the subject of a Federal Corruption FBI investigation due to his former volunteer treasurer, Adam Corey, attempting to lobby for the enlargement of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. The problem with this is, it directs public and private money to the rejuvenation of the city and infrastructure projects meaning that it could possibly be a pay-for-play scheme with local officers in exchange for their vote to help expand the Community Redevelopment Agency’s jurisdiction.
Andrew Gillum is an unwavering supporter of LGBT rights. He opposes gender identity-based discrimination and believes all Americans should be treated as equal regardless of what gender they are or what their sexuality is. He supports same-sex marriage and has even spoken about removing confederate monument that is placed at the Old State Capitol. He believes that it glorifies the most hideous parts of our history and that it should not be in the State’s capitol, let alone in front of the Capitol building.
Andrew Gillum’s stance on marijuana legalization is that we should legalize it and end the severe penalties that are placed on those caught with low level possession. He believes that the money made from taxing the plant could be used to invest into our education system, including a pay raise for the teachers and staff. His all-inclusive idea to attack the opioid epidemic is to implement a state-wide task force including police officers, paramedics and mental health advocates. He would like to restore the $11 million dollars that was cut from mental health funding and create opioid interference courts while also working with the government to secure more funding.
Andrew Gillum strongly opposes the “absolute right to gun ownership.” His stance is that he believes people struggling with their mental health and domestic abusers/criminals should not be able to obtain guns. He is against carrying a gun on a school campus and wants stricter gun laws. For example, he believes there should be an assault weapons ban and wants to get rid of the loopholes that are available when buying a gun at a gun show. He created a community watch program for Tallahassee when their crime rates were rising at an alarming rate that increased law enforcement and the community’s engagement, while also strengthening the relationship between them.
Andrew Gillum is against defunding Planned Parenthood because he believes that is jeopardizes women’s health and thinks that every woman should have equal access to healthcare. Andrew Gillum supports the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment meaning that he wants to end the civil rights that are denied to some citizens based on their gender.
