Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum withdrew his concession Saturday after a recount was ordered in the race.
He said when he conceded on Election Night, he "operated with the best information that was available to me," but when more information about votes that are remaining to be counted,
He criticized President Donald Trump, Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio, saying they had called for vote counting to be halted.
"We just don't get the opportunity to stop counting votes because we don't like the direction in which the vote tally is heading," Gillum said. "That is not democratic, and that's certainly not the American way."
The Democrat said some are using his own words from Election Night to justify ending vote counting.
"I am replacing my words of concession with an uncompromised and unapologetic call that we count every single vote," he said.
He said if the situation was reversed, his critics would call for every vote to be counted.
"I am prepared to accept whatever the outcome is of this election, so long as every single vote ... is counted," he said.
As of Saturday, Republican Ron DeSantis had 4,075,879 votes to Gillum's 4,042,195, a margin of 33,684 votes.
DeSantis issued a statement Saturday, restating his belief he is the winner of the election.
"Those results are clear and unambiguous, just as they were on Election Night, and I am honored by the trust that Floridians have placed in me to serve as your next governor," he said.
Saturday, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner ordered recounts in the governor's race, the Senate race between Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott and in the state agriculture commissioner's race between Nikki Fried and Matt Caldwell.
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the 10 News app now.
Have a news tip? Email tips@wtsp.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
