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Andrew Gillum Dedicating His Efforts To Turning Florida Blue In 2020, Speaks On Democratic Candidates

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – After losing the race for Florida governor in one of the closest races in state history, Andrew Gillum is back in the public eye.

Earlier this week he announced that he would mount a major voter registration effort.

The goal of those efforts is to defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election.

Before getting started, Gillum had to answer the question of why he wasn't joining the massive field of Democrats running for the highest office in the country.

"I'm taking care of home," Gillum said. "I think the best role that I can play at this time, having come off a grueling two year race here, in one of the swingiest swing states in the country, is doing everything that I can to prepare the state of Florida to go blue."

There were massive efforts during Gillum's campaign to get the former Tallahassee mayor election governor.

Now the goal is to take those resources and put them to good use for the Democratic party.

"We had over 70,000 volunteers taking action on behalf of our campaign," Gillum said. "Over a million conversations we opened in two-way text message exchanges with people in the state. We want to turn that apparatus, those resources, into good. Not for a single election cycle, but enduring by helping to build a more progressive base of voters here in Florida."

WATCH: The full interview with Jim DeFede and Andrew Gillum can be seen below. 

 

Looking ahead to the race for president, Gillum talked about former Texas Rep. and current 2020 candidate Beto O'Rourke.

"He looks to have inspired a great number of people in the State of Texas and beyond," Gillum said of O'Rourke. "I think that led to a lot of the demand for him to enter the race for President of the Unites States. He's obviously spent some time in Congress which I think can serve him well."

While O'Rourke's name is becoming more and more well known, Gillum said that as a voter, there is a still a lot of information he needs to learn before making a decision, and that goes for O'Rourke as well as any other candidate.

"He's gotta get out there and help to describe to the people of this country who he is and what he stands for," Gillum said. "I want to know what you're gonna do, I want to know what your big ideas are, I want to know what your vision is, I want to know where your moral and political compass is."

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