Florida Governor's Race: Gillum Takes Early Lead Over DeSantis

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Little more than a week into Florida's gubernatorial race, Democrat Andrew Gillum has gotten off to an early lead over Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis. The Tallahassee mayor was up by 2.5 points as of Wednesday, according to RealClearPolitics. Meanwhile, Gillum released receipts that he says show he paid for his travel in an effort to answer lingering questions about trips he took that are being investigated by the state’s ethics commission.

Gillum averaged 48.5 points, while DeSantis averaged 46 points, according to RealClearPolitics, which rated the Florida governor's race as a political toss up. The RealClearPolitics average is based on a statistical average of multiple polls.

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Polls conducted by Quinnipiac between Aug. 30 and Sept. 3 and Gravis between Aug. 29 and Aug. 30 show Gillum with a slight lead. The Quinnipiac poll had Gillum up by 3 points while the Gravis showed the Democrat leading by 2 points.

See also: DeSantis Says 'Monkey This Up' Referring To Black Opponent

The Trump-endorsed Republican appeared to get off to a shaky start when he told Fox News on the day following his primary win: "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state," referring to Gillum's liberal politics. But that didn't sit well with a number of people, who questioned whether it was a veiled reference to the fact that Gillum is black and vying to become the state's first black chief executive.

Gillum met Tuesday with investigators from Florida’s ethics commission to discuss the trips to Costa Rica and New York City. The commission inquiry is separate from an ongoing FBI investigation into Tallahassee city government, but there are links between the two.

In a statement, Gillum maintained he was being open and repeated his promise to cooperate with the FBI. He knocked DeSantis for being a critic of the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s interference in U.S. elections and whether President Donald Trump or his close allies colluded with Russia.

“The FBI has a job to do — and whether it’s Washington, D.C., or Florida, Congressman DeSantis and President Trump should allow the agency to do its work,” said Gillum. “Here in Florida, we’ve done everything we can to aid the agency, while Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump have done the exact opposite — demonizing the FBI and making the case that collusion is not a crime.”

The disclosures released by the Gillum campaign do not include all expenses related to the two trips that Gillum took in 2016 before the FBI probe became public. A Tallahassee businessman filed an ethics complaint once the trips were revealed.

DeSantis spokesman Stephen Lawson said that “these receipts do nothing to shed light on his luxury trips to Costa Rica and New York City with lobbyists and undercover FBI agents. In fact, they simply raise more questions about Gillum’s ongoing involvement. The people of Florida deserve answers, and Andrew Gillum keeps refusing to provide them.”

Gillum has said he has talked to the FBI and that he is not the target of an investigation. The first open knowledge of the probe came in June 2017 when a federal grand jury subpoenaed five years of records from Tallahassee and a local redevelopment agency that involved high-profile projects and developers, including an ally of Gillum. The FBI earlier this year asked for more records, dealing primarily with an upscale restaurant that is located in a city-owned building. The Edison received $2 million in financial assistance from the city and the local community redevelopment agency.

Andrew Gillum photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images