By Julia Craven
HuffPost
November 3, 2018
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — It’s 8:15 a.m., and a group of 40 or so people await him. They’ve been standing around the front of Bethel AME Church in their “Andrew Gillum for governor” tees for about an hour. When they see Gillum striding toward them, they erupt into raucous applause. He immediately scoops up Jett Williams, a precocious 2-year-old sitting in a wagon and sporting a Florida A&M University football jersey, initiating the first of many photo ops that Saturday in early October.
Gillum, 39, has barely handed Jett back to the boy’s mother, Kay Harper Williams, before a group of people in “Black Voters Matter” shirts rush up to him with their arms extended and their camera apps open. He stretches out his arms and flashes a bright smile that quickly becomes a warm chuckle.