Andrew Gillum arrested in Alabama on drug charges after traffic stop
Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum was arrested on 2 July in Daphne, Alabama, on marijuana and methamphetamine possession charges.
Former Florida candidate Gillum held in Alabama after drugs found in vehicle
Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum was arrested on drug possession charges in Daphne, Alabama, on 2 July, according to records reported by nbcnews.com. Officers from the Daphne Police Department pulled him over for erratic driving around 10:45 p.m. and, after noticing a glass pipe on the centre console, conducted a probable cause search of his vehicle.
The search turned up several rolled marijuana cigarettes and three packages of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, police said in a news release. Gillum, 46, was charged with marijuana possession and unlawful possession of a controlled substance. Jail records show he was released the following day, 3 July.
Court records for the case were not yet available, the Baldwin County Clerk of Court's office said. No information on a lawyer representing Gillum was immediately available, and a message seeking comment was left for the local district attorney's office.
Daphne sits approximately 11 miles east of Mobile on Alabama's Gulf Coast.
The arrest marks the latest legal setback for Gillum, who served as mayor of Tallahassee from 2014 to 2018 and came within less than a percentage point of becoming Florida's first Black governor. He lost to Republican Ron DeSantis in 2018 by fewer than 34,000 votes and had been widely regarded as a rising figure in the Democratic Party.
In March 2020, Gillum was found in a Miami Beach hotel room with a man who had apparently overdosed on drugs. Police said Gillum was too inebriated to speak about what had occurred. The man survived and no criminal charges were filed in connection with the overdose. Gillum subsequently stepped back from public life for several months while seeking treatment for alcohol abuse and depression.
"So much of my recovery has been about trying to get over shame," Gillum said on the Tamron Hall talk show in September 2020.
In 2022, a federal grand jury indicted Gillum on conspiracy and wire fraud charges, alleging he funnelled tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations through third parties for his own personal use. A 2023 trial ended in a hung jury on those counts, and he was acquitted of separate charges that he had lied to undercover FBI agents who posed as property developers. Those agents had paid for a 2016 trip Gillum took with his brother to New York — covering hotel rooms, meals, a boat tour and a ticket to the Broadway show Hamilton.
Gillum currently co-hosts the politically themed podcast Native Land Pod, which received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding News and Information Podcast in 2025. A message seeking comment was also left for the podcast's production company.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)