Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum — who rose to national prominence as Florida’s 2018 Democratic nominee for governor — is being held in the Baldwin County Corrections Center after a district court judge revoked his bond in a drug possession case, court records show.
According to Baldwin County District Court records, Gillum tested positive for methamphetamine prior to or during an Aug. 4 preliminary hearing, and he was also cited for missing a previous drug test.
District Court Judge Scott Taylor ordered Gillum arrested on Aug. 6, citing the positive drug test as grounds to revoke his bond. Taylor did not issue an explanation of his order to arrest Gillum, but he did make clear the former mayor would remain behind bars pending his trial, writing that Gillum would stay in jail “until he is legally discharged from your custody (the Baldwin County Corrections Center) by this court.”
The July 2 arrest in Daphne
Gillum’s legal troubles in Baldwin County began July 2, when Daphne police pulled him over after an officer saw him driving erratically on U.S. Highway 98, according to the Daphne Police Department.
During the traffic stop, one of the officers saw a glass pipe on the center console of the vehicle, the department said in a release. That observation led to a probable cause search of the car, in which officers recovered several rolled marijuana cigarettes and three packages of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine.
Gillum was charged with second-degree possession of marijuana and unlawful possession of a controlled substance. He was initially booked into the Daphne City Jail before being transferred to the Baldwin County Corrections Center, where he was listed as an inmate as of Monday.
What happens next
Gillum is scheduled to reappear in court on Thursday, Aug. 13, and he also faces an Oct. 6 court date under a pretrial order signed in July. Because his bond has been revoked, he will remain incarcerated until the court orders otherwise.
His attorney, Christ Coumanis, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bond revocations of this kind are not uncommon in Alabama drug cases. When a defendant is released on bond, staying drug-free and appearing for scheduled tests is typically a condition of release, and prosecutors can ask the court to revoke that release when a defendant fails a screening or skips one entirely. A revocation does not decide the underlying case; it simply means the defendant waits for trial or further hearings behind bars rather than at home.
A fast political rise and a stunning loss
Gillum served as mayor of Tallahassee from 2014 to 2018, having first won a seat on the city commission at just 23 years old. In 2018, he won the Democratic nomination for governor of Florida and faced Republican Ron DeSantis in one of the most closely watched races in the country that year.
Gillum lost to DeSantis by about 34,000 votes out of more than 8 million cast, a margin close enough to trigger a statewide machine recount. He conceded the race after the recount confirmed the result, and Democrats viewed the campaign as a sign of a shifting Florida electorate even as the state continued to trend Republican.
In the years since, Gillum has stayed largely out of elected politics, and the Baldwin County charges represent his first known arrest in Alabama.
The charges he faces
Second-degree possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor under Alabama law, typically punishable by up to a year in jail for a first offense. Unlawful possession of a controlled substance is a felony, and a conviction can carry a prison sentence measured in years, along with fines and other penalties.
Because one of the charges is a felony, the case is likely to move from Baldwin County District Court to a grand jury review before any trial. Prosecutors with the Baldwin County District Attorney’s Office will decide whether to present the case as is, negotiate a plea agreement, or pursue additional charges based on the evidence recovered from the traffic stop.
Gillum is next due in Baldwin County court on Thursday, Aug. 13.