Politico
By Marc Caputo and Matt Dixon
July 8, 2015
Next
year’s Florida Senate primary between Reps. Alan Grayson and Patrick
Murphy will test whether Sunshine State Democrats are ready to embrace a
deep-blue liberal.
The
contrasts between the two are stark: Grayson is a progressive,
hip-shooting firebrand beloved by hardcore liberals; Murphy is a
cautious, scripted candidate favored
by the Democratic establishment in Washington and Tallahassee. The two
Florida congressmen show little admiration for each other, which could
presage a brutal and big-spending primary — beginning on Thursday when
Grayson officially enters the race to replace
Sen. Marco Rubio, who is forgoing a second term to run for president.
“Murphy’s
people should be scared because the problem with Alan Grayson is he
just doesn’t give a damn,” said Screven Watson, a longtime Democratic
consultant based in
Tallahassee.
“Grayson
doesn’t do things the way normal candidates do them. His campaigns
aren’t normal campaigns. He can raise so much money on the Internet that
he’s only second to
people like President Obama,” Watson said. “There have been liberal
candidates who have run statewide before in Florida, but not like Alan
Grayson.”
Grayson,
who would not comment for this story, rocketed to fame in progressive
circles as a House freshman in 2009 for saying in a floor speech that
the GOP’s Obamacare
alternative was really a slogan: “Don’t Get Sick! And If You Do Get
Sick, Die Quickly!” Grayson became a darling of the left, appearing
scores of times on MSNBC and becoming a repeat guest on HBO’s “Real Time
with Bill Maher,” where the congressman once received
a standing ovation from the liberal crowd for explaining the Occupy
Wall Street movement.
Current
and former Grayson staffers say the congressman has been able in the
past to raise money in $100,000 chunks in a day from small donors with
just an email click.
A self-made man worth $31 million, Grayson has spent as much as $3
million of his own fortune in prior elections (he has raised far more)
and is prepared to tap his private funds for this race if needed. That’s
crucial in a state as big and expensive as Florida,
which has 10 major television markets and where statewide ad buys can
cost well over $2 million weekly.
Grayson
is likely behind in fundraising when compared to Murphy. On Wednesday,
Murphy’s campaign announced he raised $1.4 million in the second quarter
of this year, boosting
his cash-on-hand total to $2.5 million. In addition, a pro-Murphy super
PAC — Floridians for a Strong Middle Class — is already up and running.
Murphy
also has the backing of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee,
which is seeking to regain control of the Senate next year after ceding
it in 2014. The DSCC’s
chairman, Montana Sen. Jon Tester, tried to keep Grayson out of the
race earlier this year — and, following a strained conversation with
Grayson, ultimately endorsed Murphy.
In addition to federal help, Murphy has also racked up endorsements from Florida legislators.
One
of them, state Sen. Eleanor Sobel, endorsed Murphy this week and
attacked Grayson for his “profane tirades” against reporters and others
who have tangled with the
sharp-tongued Orlando congressman. Another Murphy backer, St. Lucie
County Democratic Chairwoman Celeste Bush, filed a House ethics
complaint against Grayson over his role in managing hedge funds. A
similar complaint was filed earlier by a Washington-based
conservative watchdog group.
Grayson’s staff has denied the congressman broke any rules and say the complaints are political.
Republicans
are also bracing for their own Senate primary bloodbath. Rep. Ron
DeSantis has already entered the race, and former defense contractor and
combat vet Todd
Wilcox announced Wednesday that he’ll join the GOP race. Lt. Gov.
Carlos Lopez-Cantera will announce his campaign next week. Rep. Jeff
Miller is also expected to run.
Democratic
candidates tend to perform better in Florida in presidential-election
years because their voters don’t stay home disproportionately as they do
in midterm elections.
Florida Democrats have lost every governor’s race since 1994, most
recently with former Republican Charlie Crist on the top of the ticket.
Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state by about
420,000.
Grayson
backers say Democrats and liberals will be more likely to show if their
candidate is more progressive. As a result, they say, Murphy’s centrist
voting record won’t
be an asset. They also point out Murphy was once registered as a
Republican and had contributed to then-GOP presidential candidate Mitt
Romney in 2007.
“When
it comes to the race shaping up to replace Marco Rubio, we believe that
Floridians are looking for a bold champion who will inspire and engage
voters,” Susan Smith,
president of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida, told
reporters on a conference call. “We can’t afford to lose more seats to
Republicans by running former Republicans, or Democrats who otherwise
can’t be distinguished from Republicans.”
Murphy’s
campaign says the criticisms are unfair and have pointed to numerous
votes in which he sided with the Democratic minority in the House.
For
some Florida Democrats, Murphy is too Republican-lite, but Grayson is
too heavy-handed. Kartik Krishnaiyer, a consultant and blogger with the
Florida Squeeze, said
he’s supporting little-known Democrat Pam Keith.
“I’m a progressive who sees the limitations in Grayson,” Krishnaiyer said. “He has a tendency to be bombastic and polarizing.”
Grayson,
for instance, has unapologetically compared the tea party to the Ku
Klux Klan and criticized a Federal Reserve chairman’s adviser as a “K
Street whore,” a comment
for which he apologized.
Republican
and Democratic insiders alike generally believe Murphy will be a better
general election candidate. To that end, Vox Populi Polling, a
Republican robopolling
firm, conducted a survey last month that was designed to show Democrats
how to beat Murphy with negative messaging. The automated poll showed
Murphy led Grayson, 34 percent to 24 percent, among Democrats. But after
Democrats heard negative messages about Murphy’s
votes in Congress and his prior GOP affiliation, Murphy trailed Grayson
by a wide margin.
Brad
Coker, head of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, conducted a survey
of the race in April showing Murphy led Grayson, 23 percent to 14
percent, in a Democratic primary,
with 63 percent undecided. That meant the race is wide open and likely
remains that way today because neither candidate has really begun
campaigning or advertising.
“I
do think Grayson is going to have to stay on good behavior, watch what
he says,” Coker said, calling Grayson “the most openly liberal candidate
to run for statewide
office in Florida.”
“You
look at the Democrats who have won over the past 40 years, and they’re
rather dull,” Coker said. “So Grayson is going into uncharted waters.”
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