FAMU Alumnus Andrew Gillum announced that he is considering running for the position of Governor of Florida earlier last week.
If elected into the position this would make Gillum one of the youngest Florida governors, as well as the first African American to secure this position that hasn’t been won by a Democrat in two decades.
During Gillum’s undergraduate years at FAMU, he was a student that was the “cream of the crop.” Gillum
Gillum received many honors and accolades. He was recognized by the National Center Policy Alternatives in Washington, D.C. as the country’s top student leader in 2001. In 2004, he was named to Ebony magazine’s “Fast Track 30 Leaders Who Are 30 and Under.” Interesting enough, Gillum served as President of the FAMU Student Government Association from 2001-2002 and was the first student member of FAMU Board of Trustees.
Gillum became Tallahassee’s youngest city commissioner after he won his position in 2003 when he was 23. In 2014 he then became mayor in 2014.
Gillum was under strong consideration to be a running mate for presidential candidate Hilary Clinton, who allowed him to speak at the Democratic National Convention.
Gillum was the first North Florida Politician to welcome gays and lesbians to marry in his city after officials in other Florida counties said would not issues same-sex marriage licenses.
Gillum said in a statement that ” I think I’ve demonstrated up to this point that I’ve never had to take this temperature in order to do the right thing.”
“There are enough people who are prepared to take the temperature,” he said. “There are not enough people who are willing to set it.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the name of Andrew Gillum as Anthony Gillum.
