Andrew Gillum aims to evict Donald Trump with registration drive to flip Florida blue

Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who lost his bid for Florida Governor to Ron DeSantis by less than half a percentage point, today announced the goal of registering 1 million voters for the 2020 elections.

"Are y'all ready to flip Florida Blue? Or better yet are you ready to flip the United States of America blue?" Gillum said to a cheering crowd at the Florida Memorial University Wellness Center in Miami Gardens.

Gillum hit the stage around 7 p.m., about an hour after he was scheduled to appear and more than 11 hours after Politico, the Miami Herald and others already reported he would be launching a voter registration drive — something he'd been hinting at for months.

"Don't you think if we can put a million new voters on the table what that will mean for the state of Florida?" Gillum said.

Gillum since the election:

•  Andrew Gillum joins CNN as a commentator
• 'I think he’s the future': Despite loss in governor's race, Gillum still has political clout
•  Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum is a Harvard Fellow
• Andrew Gillum, in his own words, on ethics allegations: Here's what we learned
• ‘It doesn’t look good’: Inside the Florida Ethics Commission decision to find probable cause against Andrew Gillum

A Florida 501(c)(3) was formed in Broward County in January, made up of supporters of Gillum's gubernatorial campaign named after his signature slogan, Bring it Home Florida, Inc., registered last week as a Florida Third-Party Voter Registration Organization. Directors include Laurie Schecter, daughter of Aaron Schecter, who developed Century Village. She donated $140,000 to the Forward Florida PAC.

His Forward Florida PAC had $3.9 million remaining in it as of Feb. 28..

Before his announcement the crowd filled the area, with people holding Bring it Home signs and wearing blue T-shirts that said "Register. Engage. Win" and "Flip Florida Blue."

Speaking before Gillum got on stage, Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert said, "Every place people wanted to vote but couldn't vote is ground zero in America." 

Miami Gardens created the Office of Civic Engagement to register people to vote year-round.

Gillum has been appearing in public talking about mobilizing Democratic voters since his loss to DeSantis. On Real Time with Bill Maher Friday, Gillum ruled out making a run for President in 2020.

He did say in several interviews that he would do something Florida-centric but would still have a national impact because Florida is the third largest state in the nation and has enough electoral votes to influence the outcome of a presidential election.

"Send Donald Trump a message that says your eviction notice is served and you are out of here," Gillum said. "I can't think of a bigger better state to send that message. We are uniquely situated to send that eviction notice."

Gillum added that he was excited to "roll them back to whatever planet they came from."

The announcement comes as the Florida Legislature debates how to implement Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment that restores voting rights to an estimated 1.4 million ex-felons. 

Gillum criticized legislation that would require ex-felons to pay back court costs before they would be allowed to register to vote.

"Lawmakers impeding the will of voters by putting a price on restoring civil rights is wrong & unconstitutional," Gillum said on his Twitter feed Tuesday. "We will not allow lawmakers to roll back progress. We must keep Florida moving forward."

The same day Gillum made his announcement, the Florida Democratic Party sent out a news release saying it would commit $2 million to register 200,000 voters before the 2020 presidential primary.

“This investment is monumental for the party and is about creating the electorate we want, not the one we have been told we have,” said FDP Chair Terrie Rizzo. 

The party's data shows that more than 4 million Floridians are eligible to vote but not registered. Part of the $2 million will be invested in technology and advanced data modeling to boost the ranks of voting Democrats, the release said.

The party will also hire field staff across the state, and provide an 8-week training program for nearly 200 college students to organize and get people to register.

Contact Schweers at jschweers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.