Email Insights: Andrew Gillum touts ‘Small Business Saturday’

With the Holiday shopping season underway, the campaign of Tallahassee Mayor/Democratic Gubernational hopeful Andrew Gillum messaged on the theme of Small Business Saturday in an email.

Spoiler: he supports the initiative.

That email messaging saw the Gillum campaign alternate between waxing poetic about the unique virtues of small businesses and touting some positive indicators for his city, with a call to action for people to “commit” to shopping at small businesses in such a way that his mailing list will be boosted.

“Small businesses are more than just the backbone of our communities,” Gillum’s Comms Director, Geoff Burgan, wrote. “They’re the neighborhood bakeries we take our families to on the weekends, they’re the small mom and pop shops that help us find the right tool to repair that roof leak — and most importantly, they’re the shops that re-invest in our community.”

Burgan notes that “as Tallahassee Mayor, Andrew has worked to expand entrepreneurship and innovation opportunities within our community through the Talent Lives Here (TLH) initiative.”

As well, Burgan touts a coveted Wallethub plaudit: “In fact, thanks to Andrew’s leadership and our community members, Tallahassee’s small business environment has grown so much, that it was ranked amongst WalletHub’s 2016’s Best Large Cities to Start a Business.”

“It takes all of us working together to grow an economy that works for all of us — and it starts with the small businesses right down the street,” Burgan writes.

Gillum’s path to the Democratic nomination saw one obstacle removed Friday, as trial lawyer John Morgan said he wouldn’t pursue the party’s nod.

Despite the removal of that obstacle, Gillum faces challenges.

Between his campaign and political committee accounts, Gillum had roughly $550,000 on hand at the end of October.

That sum puts him well behind two key Democratic opponents: former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham and current Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, who had $4 million and $5.6 million on hand at the end of the month.

However, the runaway winner in the cash chase is Republican Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who had $14.7 million banked at the end of October.