The 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Florida, Andrew Gillum, has said he will check into a rehab for alcohol abuse after he was found drunk in a hotel with another man on Friday.
Gillum said in a statement on Sunday that he had arrived at the decision after “conversation with my family and deep reflection”.
“I have made the decision to seek help, guidance and enter a rehabilitation facility at this time,” the statement added.
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Perhaps, in a more intriguing revelation, Gillum said that his 2018 loss to Ron DeSanctis was too much to bear. He thus “fell into a depression that has led to alcohol abuse.”
Gillum, 40, had been found vomiting in a bathroom at the Mondrian South Beach hotel. The man who found Gillum then called the police.
The other man who also found inebriated with Gillum, Travis Dyson, 30, was treated for what is suspected to be a drug overdose.
Reports say police found three packets of crystal meth on the floor in the hotel room where the pair where. But Gillum said on Friday that he never took drugs.
In the statement on Sunday, Gillum said that he would count himself out of any “public-facing roles for the foreseeable future.” He explained that there was “personal work” he had to do to “heal fully”.
Then a 38-year-old fast-talking and skilled orator, Gillum’s personality in 2018 drew parallels with former US President Barack Obama.
Beyond their personalities, Gillum, just like Obama for America, ran in Florida as a progressive with refreshing ideas for an electorate who were skeptical of the future.
In the end, Gillum lost by a close shave, a percentage margin of 0.4. But pundits and the Democratic believed the story had only begun for a young bright star.
