Andrew Gillum continues to lie, err, exaggerate about campaign size

Andrew Gillum has made a play in Jacksonville, but Mia Jones is his only major local backer thus far.

Will Andrew Gillum ever learn?

Despite a PolitiFact ruling six months ago that showed the Tallahassee Mayor’s campaign lied about the number of its supporters, Gillum and his staff are continuing to mislead voters and the press about the size of this fledgling operation.

On June 9, the Gillum for Governor campaign said: “We’re excited to have more than 7,000 contributors, the most in the race, and we’re raising the resources to compete in all 67 counties.”

“Mostly false,” PolitiFact ruled the following week.

Yet, last week, speaking at Cafe Con Tampa, Gillum reportedly said: “I want you to know that we’ve got over 11 thousand — last I counted — individual contributors.”

And last month, Gillum campaign representative Geoff Burgan told a reporter, “We’ve got more than 11,000 online donors …”

Neither claim is true.

According to the latest public fundraising reports, posted yesterday, Gillum actually has less than 8,500 unique donors between his campaign account and political committee — placing him well behind Adam Putnam and Gwen Graham, who each have more than 10,000 supporters.

The once-rising star Gillum exaggerated the number of supporters while speaking to the audience about the viability of his campaign. The campaign has been in the red for the past seventh months — and had its worst month ever in November, raising only $52,475 and spending more than $100,000.

In addition to having more supporters, Graham — with significant name recognition — also enjoys a seven-point lead over Gillum, as shown by the latest polling from Associated Industries of Florida: Graham with 24 percent, Gillum at 17 percent.

And now Gillum has less than $500,000 between his campaign and political committee; if the current trend continues, it’s difficult to see how the candidate survives until Election Day.

And it’s even harder to see how he wins, especially with made up supporters on the campaign trail.