Surprise Democrat primary winner Andrew Gillum in Florida had support from two of the left’s biggest financiers: George Soros and Tom Steyer.
Gillum courted the two billionaires extensively, meeting them in California to earn their support.
“If I’m remembering it correctly, it was, ‘We don’t know if you can win, but we would like what it could represent,’” Gillum told the New Yorker, recalling the meetings. “I interpreted it to mean that it would be significant to see a person of color taken seriously in a statewide race.”
In return, he received millions from the two billionaires and their allies.
Thursday, Steyer and Soros announced a $650,000 boost into Gillum’s campaign, together with their donors.
Liberal groups also coordinated a $3.5 million get-out-the-vote effort for Gillum prior to the primary.
“As we battle for the heart and soul of this nation, Andrew Gillum is the kind of leader we need on the front lines,” said Steyer in June. “He’s someone we can trust to do the right thing, to put the people before the powerful and who is unafraid to stand up for justice, now when we need it most.”
Gillum campaigned extensively on an exclusively leftist agenda, promising universal health care, a $15 an hour minimum wage, abolishing ICE, and repealing Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” gun defense law. He also vowed to tackle global warming and enact stiff taxes on the wealthy to pour more money into the state’s schools.
Gillum also released a video demanding that Trump be impeached, condemning his “wrongheaded, racist, and sexist policies.”
Gillum faces Republican nominee Rep. Ron DeSantis in the Florida governor’s race this fall.