 Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum gives his concession speech as he is joined on stage by his wife R. Jai Gillum, right, and running mate Chris King and his wife Kristen Tuesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum gives his concession speech as he is joined on stage by his wife R. Jai Gillum, right, and running mate Chris King and his wife Kristen Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Tallahassee, Fla. Gillum lost the Florida governor’s race to Republican Ron DeSantis.... (Associated Press) 
 
 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Democrat Andrew Gillum's campaign said Thursday that it's prepared for a possible recount in the Florida governor's race that he conceded to Republican Ron DeSantis on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Florida's Senate race featuring Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson against Republican Rick Scott seemed to be heading for a recount, which is automatically triggered when the vote difference is less than 0.5 percent. In a call with reporters Thursday, Nelson lawyer Marc Elias said that the race currently stands as a "jump ball" as counties around the state canvass their votes, but he believes Nelson will remain senator once the recount dust settles. "Our campaign, along with our attorney Barry Richard, is monitoring the situation closely and is ready for any outcome, including a state-mandated recount." The Gillum campaign sent out an email to supporters Thursday afternoon urging those with provisional ballots to call their supervisor of elections offices before 5 p.m. to make sure their ballot was counted, and campaign spokeswoman Johanna Cervone said the campaign was prepared for a recount effort. Gillum himself took to Facebook Live to address supporters, though he did not explicitly comment on if he thought the recount might result in his win: "In spite of the fact that we're a little bit down in the numbers, we're hopeful that every single vote will be counted in this race," he said. Under Florida law, a recount is mandatory if the margin of the winning candidate is less than 0.5 percentage points when the first unofficial count is verified Saturday by Florida's secretary of state. As of Wednesday morning, DeSantis led Gillum by 43,039 votes out of nearly 8.2 million cast, or a difference of 0.526 of a percentage point. "The results of the 2018 Senate election are unknown and I think that you and the elections officials should treat it as such," Elias told reporters on a conference call.
– After more or less conceding the Florida gubernatorial race to his Republican opponent, Democrat Andrew Gillum is now reportedly ready for a recount. On Wednesday, with tens of thousands of votes still uncounted, Gillum tweeted, “I’m looking forward to seeing every vote counted,” per the Tallahassee Democrat. Although, as NBC notes, he has not explicitly requested a recount, Gillum did say Thursday that his campaign is prepared for one. As of late afternoon local time, Republican Ron DeSantis held a lead of 38,613 votes, per the AP, which is a margin of 0.47%. If DeSantis’ lead remains below 0.5 percentage points when the first unofficial count is verified on Saturday, a mandatory recount will be triggered. And state officials appear to be preparing for that possibility (a recount in a Florida Senate race also is anticipated). “The recounts will be nationally watched,” Secretary of State Ken Detzner reportedly told election supervisors during a morning conference call, adding that Florida will be “under a microscope.” Speaking via Facebook Live on Thursday, Gillum said, “This is extremely hard. But, you know what, the fight for progress, the fight for change, the fight for what it is we want, it’s hard." As for DeSantis, he told reporters, per the Tampa Bay Times, that he is “looking forward to serving,” adding, “we’ll let the lawyers do what they got to do, but we’re good. (The fate of Florida's racing dogs is unclear.)