Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum’s driver’s license was suspended April 8 after he failed to pay two $100 tickets he got after his vehicles were caught speeding through a school zone monitored by automated city cameras.
However, his license was reinstated May 21 after he learned of the suspension from a Tallahassee Democrat reporter and paid $472 in outstanding fines and fees, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles website.
Initially, he wrote in a text “I’m sorry I don’t have a comment to offer. I am learning about this ‘suspension’ from you and am now investigating.” He later followed up writing “thanks to your alert, my status should be updated in their system now.”
Gillum, the 2018 Democratic nominee for Florida governor who lost to Ron DeSantis by a mere 33,683 votes, got the tickets after two different vehicles registered under his name drove past DeSoto Trail Elementary School on Kerry Forest Parkway — where cameras have churned out the second-highest number of violations in the city.
It’s unclear how many drivers have had their licenses suspended for failing to pay tickets from its school zone speeding program. But the high profile example demonstrates how consequences can magnify in the automated system.
City officials defend the cameras as necessary to combat pervasive speeding near schools, but critics say they amount to a local government revenue grab and raise privacy and constitutional concerns. They also warn it’s easy for residents, who have become accustomed to shoddy post office service or don’t pick up the mail for days, to miss the letters.
According to court records, a white Chevrolet SUV registered to Gillum was clocked by the school camera going 45 mph in a 30 mph zone at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. A few weeks later, at 10:48 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, a black Chevrolet SUV was clocked at the same location going 44 mph.
He racked up late fees for failing to pay the fines on April 8 for the first violation and May 8 for the second, raising the amount due to $213 for each ticket, according to court records.
Gillum, in texts to the Democrat, said he recalled getting a letter about one citation that was overturned after a review. But he added he didn’t ask for the review and took no further action.
“We receive lots of mail and much is discarded as junk before we open,” he said. “I don’t recall ever seeing anything about a suspension, ever. Upon learning about this I followed up with authorities to try to rectify the situation. I plan to dig deeper to learn exactly what was sent to me, under what letter heading, etc.”
Anyone caught driving with a suspended license can be charged with unknowingly doing so — a mere traffic infraction payable by fine — or knowingly doing so — a second-degree misdemeanor that could result in arrest.
“These driving on a suspended license tickets are nothing to sneeze at,” said Fred Conrad, a Tallahassee criminal defense attorney. “A lawyer ought to be handling those for you.”
Conrad said that under Florida law, someone who is adjudicated guilty for unknowingly driving with a suspended license three times loses their license for five years as a habitual traffic offender. If they’re caught driving then, they’re charged with a felony.
Drivers cited for a school zone speeding violation can either pay the ticket, which becomes a non-moving traffic violation, or challenge it, which becomes a moving violation if they lose in traffic court, Conrad added. It wasn’t clear whether Gillum was behind the wheel of both cars.
“It’s interesting to me,” he said of the Gillum case. “There’s two cars and had he addressed it, he probably would have a defense on one of them, right? He didn’t take care of his business, so now he’s got to pay a higher fine and reinstatement fee.”
It costs $60 for drivers to reinstate their licenses under what’s known as a D-6 suspension, which DHSMV issues for failing to pay a traffic ticket or appear in court or fulfill some other legal obligation.
Gillum was first elected to the City Commission in 2003 and served 15 years, the last four as mayor. In 2018, he pulled off an upset win in contest for the Democratic nomination for Florida governor but went on to lose by a razor’s edge to Ron DeSantis, then a former congressman.
In 2022, he and a close adviser were arrested in a long-running FBI public corruption probe that led to earlier convictions against former Mayor and City Commissioner Scott Maddox and two others.
Gillum and his co-defendant were acquitted in 2023 after a mistrial at the U.S. Courthouse in Tallahassee. He went on to co-host the podcast “Native Land Pod,” which in 2025 won an NAACP Image Award for outstanding podcast.
The city launched its school zone speed enforcement program in March 2025, with drivers racking up nearly 22,000 violations and roughly $2.2 million in fines by the end of the year. Kerry Forrest Parkway had 5,295 violations, second only to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which had 8,286.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Andrew Gillum’s driver’s license suspended after school zone speeding fines
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
