Gillum withdraws concession as Florida prepares for recounts

Alex Toth, Features Editor

Andrew Gillum has officially withdrawn his concession to Ron DeSantis in the Florida gubernatorial race, following news that an official recount was announced by the Florida secretary of state. A recount has been announced for the Senate race between Rick Scott and Bill Nelson as well.

Automatic recounts are mandatory in Florida if the gap between two candidates is .5 percent or less. Gillum is currently almost 34,000 votes behind DeSantis, or .41 percent. Meanwhile, Nelson trails Scott by only 12,500 votes, or about .15 percent.

“I am replacing my words of concession with an uncompromised and unapologetic call we count every single vote,” Gillum said on Saturday, in the wake of the ongoing recount.

 

The Scott campaign, meanwhile, has requested that Nelson opt out of the recount in order to spare Florida from “time, expense and discord of a recount.”

Nelson, however, has refused the Scott campaign’s requests. After the recount was officially announced, Nelson said, “We believe when every legal ballot is counted we’ll win this election.”

Scott then subsequently accused “left-wing activists” in Broward County of trying to steal the election for Nelson.

President Trump recently made his opinion of the recounts known, tweeting, “Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida! We are watching closely!”

 

More news about the recount and the results of the elections for both Governor and Senate will be made available in the coming days.

For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact [email protected].