Former Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum was arrested on July 2 in Daphne, Alabama, and booked on drug-related charges, according to jail records. The 46-year-old, who narrowly lost the 2018 Florida gubernatorial race, is listed on booking documents with counts described as possession of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana. The arrest was first reported on celebrity news sites and quickly rippled through Florida political circles.
According to Miami Herald, Daphne police took Gillum into custody and he was processed at the Baldwin County jail. Public inmate listings maintained by the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office show recent bookings for the county and form the basis for the descriptions of the charges. TMZ says it was the first outlet to report the arrest and it published a booking photo pulled from the jail records.
Background
Gillum served as mayor of Tallahassee from 2014 to 2018 and later won the Democratic nomination for governor in 2018 before narrowly losing the general election, a rise and near-miss chronicled in profiles by outlets such as The Washington Post. In 2022 he faced a high-profile federal indictment tied to campaign fundraising, with national coverage detailing the charges and the legal timeline in that case. This new booking drops him back into a familiar and uncomfortable spotlight for a onetime rising political figure.
What Happens Next
The Daphne Police Department has not released additional details about the incident, according to coverage by FOX 13. Prosecutors in Baldwin County will decide whether to pursue formal charges beyond the initial booking, and public case and court records will show the next steps once they are filed. This story will be updated as officials release more information.
