Politician-Turned-Podcaster Andrew Gillum Back in Jail

Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has been arrested following another brush with law enforcement.

Authorities in Alabama said Gillum was taken into custody Thursday, Aug. 6, after a mandatory drug screening and testing positive for methamphetamine.

Baldwin County Assistant District Attorney John Oxford told TMZ Gillum is enrolled in a random screening program known as “color code drug testing,” following a July arrest.

Under the program, participants are assigned a color and must call a hotline each day. If their color is selected, they are required to report for testing that day. Oxford said Gillum never showed up the day his color was called.

The former mayor was then tested during a court appearance Thursday, and prosecutors said the result came back positive for meth. Gillum was taken into custody, marking his second arrest in just over a month.

Gillum, 47, was previously arrested on July 2 in Daphne, Alabama, on suspicion of drug possession during a traffic stop. Officers with the Daphne Police Department said they pulled him over for driving erratically late at night.

During the traffic stop, officers searched his vehicle and alleged they found several rolled marijuana cigarettes and three packets containing a substance that later tested positive for meth.

He was booked into the Baldwin County Correctional Facility. According to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office website, he was charged with three counts — possession of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, and marijuana possession.

Gillum posted bond and was released from custody on July 3, according to online inmate records. Under the terms of his release, he was ordered to participate in the “color code drug testing” program.

The Miami native once had a bright future in politics. He served as mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, from 2014 to 2018.

He ran for governor of the state in 2018 and became Florida’s first Black major-party nominee for governor, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Gillum narrowly lost the election to Republican Ron DeSantis.

The ex-Tallahassee mayor made national headlines again in 2020 when first responders were called to a Miami Beach hotel room where he was staying regarding a suspected meth overdose.

Police alleged Gillum was found in the room along with drug paraphernalia and another man, who was later identified by multiple media outlets as a male escort. No one was charged in the incident.

Gillum left politics behind and discussed the ordeal during a 2020 appearance with his wife on Tamron Hall.

He now co-hosts the politics and culture podcast “Native Land Pod” with Angela Rye and Bakari Sellers. Tiffany Cross previously co-hosted the show.