Andrew Gillum, consistently the most charismatic speaker in the Democratic primary, captured the hearts of grassroots activists, young people and voters of color; his campaign was also buoyed by national Democratic donors. | AP Photo Florida governor’s race shocker sets up Trump-fueled showdown

ORLANDO — Democrat Andrew Gillum shocked Florida’s political class Tuesday night and became the first black nominee for governor in the nation’s largest swing state, setting up a November showdown against Rep. Ron DeSantis, who won the GOP primary with the enthusiastic backing of President Donald Trump.

Gillum’s 33-31percent victory over former Rep. Gwen Graham, fueled by grassroots energy and big donor dollars, presents Florida voters with the starkest of choices in style and substance come Nov. 6. Gillum is a Bernie Sanders-endorsed, Medicare-for-all candidate; DeSantis is a Trump ally who voted several times to abolish Obamacare. Gillum is a dynamic speaker who wows liberal crowds with his deep voice; the Harvard-educated DeSantis has a more bookish delivery in a higher pitch. Gillum was inspired by former president Barack Obama’s “Dreams of My Father”; DeSantis wrote his own book as a refutation of Obama’s and called it “Dreams of Our Founding Fathers.”


DeSantis, meanwhile, serves as such a stand-in for Trump that his campaign amounts to the first Florida volley in the president’s 2020 reelection effort.

Indeed, headed into Tuesday’s primary night, Trump’s support of DeSantis was the story. He was used as a bogeyman in Democratic ads and debates, and his endorsement in the GOP primary was the helium that lifted DeSantis above his rival, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a former congressman whose long-planned bid for governor was heavily supported by the state’s GOP establishment.

But Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, stole the show on election night, edging out Graham, a former congresswoman who had been plotting a bid for governor for years, and was considered by many to be the race’s front-runner.

"Tonight is a historic and proud night for the state of Florida. Andrew Gillum is the son of a construction worker and bus driver who ran an inspirational grass roots campaign to the very end. And we feel great about our chances in November,” said Juan Peñalosa, executive director of the Florida Democratic primary.

Trump’s impact on the race will loom large in the coming weeks.

“The Ron DeSantis endorsement has the genetic code of Trump politics, of Trumpism. It’s going to be the most clear-cut revelation of the value of the president’s support and standing in the state,” said Michael Caputo, a part-time Florida resident from New York, like Trump, who worked on the president’s 2016 campaign.

Caputo said no state is a better barometer for the nation than Florida for Trump when it comes to the 2018 gubernatorial primary.

“Everything that’s measurable in a national race is measurable in Florida. You want to know about the deplorables? Northwest Florida, baby,” Caputo said. “How does Trump play with Puerto Ricans? Look at the I-4 corridor. How does he play with upper-class Jewish intellectuals? Look at Palm Beach. White suburban retirees? Look at The Villages.”

Putnam’s numbers began to tank almost overnight after Trump formally backed DeSantis via his politically weaponized Twitter account. Things got worse for the former congressman when Trump came to Tampa, which is Putnam’s home turf, and held a DeSantis rally, a move that was seen by many as Putnam’s kill shot .The race’s momentum turned on a dime, a clear indication that, much like in the rest of the country, the Florida Republican party belongs to Trump.

On the Democratic side, Gillum gained ground late in the game; his campaign touted a late surge on social media. Big turnout for “Souls to the Polls,” an event held on the final Sunday before Election Day, where predominantly African-American churches drive their parishioners to the polls, helped. More than 70,000 ballots were cast on that final Sunday of pre-Election Day voting, with more than 65 percent of those coming from Democrats, numbers that likely worked in Gillum’s favor.

For much of the race, Gillum sat in third or fourth place, much of his momentum and fundraising bogged down by an FBI investigation into a City of Tallahassee redevelopment agency. Gillum has not been publicly accused of wrongdoing, but for months in the early portion of the race, Gillum struggled to raise any money.

Gillum lacked the resources of his primary opponents, which also included former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene, both of whom used tens of millions of dollars of their personal wealth to fuel their campaigns. Gillum often quipped that he was the only person in the Democratic primary who was not a millionaire.

But he has consistently been the most charismatic and dynamic speaker in the Democratic primary. He captured the hearts of grassroots activists, young people and voters of color, but his campaign was also buoyed by national Democratic donors like Tom Steyer and George Soros. Those two and entities directly tied to them accounted for nearly half of the $4.3 million Gillum raised through his political community.

A coalition of liberal groups canvassed for Gillum and spent about $3.6 million. In addition, Gillum was never attacked on TV by rivals.

For Graham, the loss represents the end of a gubernatorial campaign that she had mulled for years. As early as October 2015, Graham was giving speeches about Democrats wresting control of the executive away from Republicans after two decades.

“In 2018, we are going to turn the governor’s mansion blue,” Graham told the 2015 Florida Democratic Party’s annual convention.

At that event, while still a member of Congress, she opened for Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, who at the time was head of the Democratic Governors Association. The speaking combo only served to amplify buzz around what was well known in Florida political circles: Graham was eyeing a bid for governor.

In her concession call to Gillum, Graham displayed no hard feelings. "Now, Andrew,” she told him, “win this damn thing."

Democrats hoping for evidence of a “Blue Wave” in Florida Tuesday night were left with some sense of disappointment, as GOP turnout was projected to get as high as 34 percent, the party’s biggest primary number since 2012, which was a wave year for Republicans. Democrats, who saw some positive signs in pre-Election Day voting, were on pace for 28 percent turnout.

The numbers are particularly tough for Democrats because they had a five-person primary that included two candidates spending heavily from their personal fortunes. That said, Democrats remain optimistic that they did hit record turnout figures, even though they were topped by Republicans, which has been a common theme in recent midterm elections.

“I’m honestly not concerned about the GOP turnout,” said Steve Schale, a veteran consultant working on Graham’s campaign. “As we’ve seen in earlier specials, such as the Senate special in Miami, the GOP primary turnout wasn’t prologue.”

Alexandra Glorioso and Arek Sarkissian contributed to this report.