Florida gov hopeful Gillum concedes

Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum conceded Saturday, 11 days after Election Day.

“I want to congratulate Ron DeSantis on becoming the next gGovernor of the great state of Florida,” tweeted Gillum Saturday afternoon. “My wife R. Jai and I could not be prouder of the way we ran this race.”

DeSantis had no response to Gillum’s concession. On Thursday, DeSantis declared the election “over” and said he was preparing to govern.

The final ballot count was incredibly close, with 4,075,445 for DeSantis to 4,041,762 for Gillum — a difference of just 33,683 votes in excess of 8.1 million votes cast.

The contentious race was a clash of progressive Gillum, 39, the AfricanAmerican mayor of Tallahassee, and DeSantis, the 40-year-old ex Navy JAG and far-right supporter of President Trump.

During their second debate, DeSantis took umbrage at suggestions he was tied to white supremacists.

“Now, I’m not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist,” Gillum said heatedly. “I’m simply saying the racists believe he’s a racist.”

Gillum originally conceded the fight Election Night — but rescinded when late-counted ballots brought him to within 33,000 votes of victory.

President Trump exhibited surprising class in response to Gillum’s defeat in a tweet Saturday morning.

“Congratulations to Andrew Gillum on having run a really tough and competitive race for Governor of the Great State of Florida,” Trump wrote. “He will be a strong Democrat warrior long into the future — a force to reckon with!”