Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum will be in town tonight.
The once Tallahassee mayor is the keynote speaker for the Hillsborough County branch of the NAACP's 'Vote Freedom Fund 2019 Dinner' at the Hilton Tampa Downtown located at 211 N. Tampa St. The evening begins with a reception at 6 p.m.; dinner starts at 7.
The website says tickets for the event are available, and that they include a year's membership in the organization, but the purchase page is gone, leading us to believe the event is, unsurprisingly, sold out.
Despite being dogged by questions about unethical behavior as mayor (which continue to this day), Gillum, a Democrat, came damn close to beating Republican Ron DeSantis and becoming Florida's first African-American governor, and remains a popular political figure on the left. His name has been bandied about regarding a possible future presidential run, though Gillum hasn't yet come forward with any political career plans going forward.
This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 7, 2019.