Could an Andrew Gillum endorsement be gold ticket in Florida Democratic presidential primary?

Andrew Gillum, Tallahassee's progressive former mayor whose campaign for governor in 2018 launched him into the national spotlight, is emerging as the guy Democratic contenders need to know to win over the third largest state.

As they plot to capture Florida's 248 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, they are turning to the charismatic Gillum to tap into the campaign magic and appeal that helped him draw large numbers of millennials and minorities.

Three of the 25 candidates seeking the party’s nomination were at Gillum’s side while he built a coalition of young urban and older liberal voters that brought him within 30,000 votes of being Florida's first black governor, and its first Democrat-elected governor this century.

“He did quite well running as a full-throated progressive, and generated a lot of excitement in the party. In a presidential primary he would be valuable,” said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political scientist.

Read more: https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/16/andrew-gillum-endorsement-florida-democratic-presidential-primary-2020-president-trump-election/1188781001/