Gillum’s camp reportedly said there are more votes to be counted that could put the Tallahassee mayor over the top, according to a tweet from April Ryan of American Urban Radio.
Gillum, who could become Florida’s first African-American governor, came up short Tuesday night by a slim margin of 49.7 percent to 49 percent against his GOP rival Ron DeSantis. In an emotional speech, Gillum apologized to his supporters.
“I sincerely regret that I couldn’t bring it home for you,” he said, referring to his campaign slogan.
But many said he conceded too soon.
Meanwhile, in another potentially historic race, Democrat Stacy Abrams is calling for a recount in her race for Georgia governor. Her rival, Republican Brian Kemp, won 50.4 percent of the vote to Abrams’ 48.7 percent. A Libertarian candidate received the remaining votes.
Under Georgia law, if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, then the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff election.
Abrams could become the first African-American woman governor.
In Florida, an automatic recount of all votes is triggered when there’s a lead of less than one half of a percentage. If the margin of victory is under one quarter of a percentage point, a hand recount is ordered.
DeSantis won by over 55,000 votes (.68 percent) in the intial vote count–very close to triggering a recount. Uncounted ballots could shake up this race.