Democrat Andrew Gillum concedes in Florida governor's race
Andrew Gillum offered his second concession in the Florida governor's race on Saturday, 10 days after his first. The Democratic mayor of Tallahassee posted a live video on Facebook with his wife R. Jai, offering congratulations to his opponent, Republican governor-elect Rep. Ron DeSantis.
"Even though this election may be beyond us, although nobody wanted to be governor more than me, this was not just about an election cycle. This was about creating the kind of change in this state that really allows for the voices of everyday people to show up again in our government and our state and our communities," said Gillum. "We know this fight continues." Gillum withdrew his initial concession a week ago pending a recount of votes in the state. He trailed DeSantis by 33,683 votes after a machine recount concluded Thursday, leaving a 0.41 percent difference too narrow for a manual recount. DeSantis posted an acknowledgment to Twitter shortly afterward, noting it was time to bring the state together.
This was a hard-fought campaign. Now it’s time to bring Florida together. https://t.co/I1hB0vd3kb — Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) November 17, 2018
Gillum also addressed what has been a difficult election cycle for the state, which has seen its Senate race between incumbent Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican Gov. Rick Scott plagued by lawsuits, recounts, and missed deadlines. "We're going to make sure that over the coming weeks over the coming months that we do what we can to perfect our electoral system. We need to update Florida's election system and bring it into the 21st century," Gillum said. President Trump had praised Gillum earlier in the day for a hard-fought campaign, calling him a "strong Democrat warrior."
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/democrat-andrew-gillum-concedes-in-florida-governors-race