Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum was arrested on drug possession charges in Alabama after police say they pulled him over for erratic driving and found marijuana and meth in his vehicle. Gillum, 46, was arrested on July 2 in Daphne, about 11 miles east of Mobile on Alabama's Gulf Coast. He is charged with marijuana possession and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, the Daphne Police Department said. Jail records show he was released on July 3. The Daphne Police Department said officers stopped Gillum's vehicle around 10:45 p.m. and initiated a probable cause search after one of them noticed a glass pipe on the center console. They found several rolled marijuana cigarettes and three packages of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine.
Gillum served as mayor of Florida's capital from 2014 to 2018 and came within less than a percentage point of being elected the state's first Black governor, losing to Republican Ron DeSantis by fewer than 34,000 votes. In 2022, Gillum was indicted on federal conspiracy and wire fraud charges for allegedly funneling tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations through third parties back to himself for personal use. A 2023 trial ended in a hung jury on those charges and an acquittal on charges that Gillum lied to undercover FBI agents posing as developers who paid for a 2016 trip he took with his brother to New York, including hotel rooms, meals, a boat tour and a ticket to the hit Broadway show "Hamilton." Gillum is a co-host of the politically themed Native Land Pod, which won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding News and Information Podcast in 2025.