TALLAHASSEE, FL — Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum conceded the Florida governor’s race for a second time on Saturday, two days after a machine recount of more than 8 million ballots failed to change the Democrat’s fortunes. Republican former Congressman Ron DeSantis will be sworn in as the state’s 46th governor in January.
“We wanted to make sure that every single vote — including those that were undervotes, overvotes, as long as it was a legally cast vote — we wanted those votes to be counted,” said Gillum speaking with his wife, R. Jai. “Now that we are rounding that process out, R. Jai and I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Mr. DeSantis on becoming the governor of the great state of Florida.”
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Gillum conceded the race for the first time on election night but walked those remarks back after receiving thousands of votes in the days following the Nov. 6 election. Last Saturday, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner ordered a machine recount in the governor’s race when the separation between the two candidates fell within a state-mandated threshold.
As of Saturday, the still unofficial state election returns showed DeSantis with 4,075,445 votes compared to 4,041,762 votes for Gillum, a difference of 33,683 votes. The Democrat stronghold of Broward County submitted its machine recount returns two minutes late on Thursday, resulting in the state defaulting to the first unofficial returns submitted last Saturday.
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“Although nobody wanted to be governor more than me, that this was not just about an election cycle,” Gillum said. “This was about creating the type of change in this state that really allows for the voices of everyday people to show up again in our government, in our state and in our communities.”
Two other races —the Senate race between incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson and Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott as well as the race for commissioner of agriculture between Democrat Nikki Fried and Republican Matt Caldwell were close enough to trigger hand recounts. Those results are due back on Sunday.
“More than 4 million of you decided you wanted a different direction for this state of Florida,” Gillum said. “We want you to know that we see you, that we hear you, and that your voices will continue to power us as we still stand on the front lines right alongside you to make this a state that works for all of us.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum gives his first concession speech on election night in Tallahassee. (Photo by Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images).