A.G. Gancarski
North Florida U.S. Reps. Gwen Graham and Corrine Brown represent two distinct wings of the Democratic Party.
For one thing, if you Google “Gwen Graham Moderate,” you’ll find no shortage of results about how she’s the type of Democrat who is willing to buck the left wing of the party, on issues like the budget and the Keystone XL pipeline.
For her, it’s the “North Florida Way.”
“I promised to bring the North Florida Way to Washington — and that means working with both parties to reach common-sense solutions,” Graham told the Tampa Bay Times last year. “Now, I’m following through with that promise and focusing on creating jobs, improving education and ending the gridlock in Congress. Neither party is right 99 percent of the time, so the people of North Florida expect us to work together to get things done.”
Google “Corrine Brown Moderate,” and you find a paucity of results. Missing in them: the word “moderate.”
Representative Brown is entering her third decade in the House. Graham? In her second year now.
Despite those differences, there are some commonalities.
One such: a commitment to commemorating a half century of Medicare and Medicaid.
On Friday, Graham met with Tallahassee area seniors for said commemoration. Cake, constituent services, and quotes were served up.
“When Medicare was signed into law, 50 years ago, more than half of America’s seniors were without health insurance,” Graham said. “We’ve made great progress since then, and today, I heard from North Florida seniors who rely on the program for healthcare. I’m dedicated to protecting Medicare for them and for generations to come.”
On Monday in Jacksonville, Brown will have a Medicaid and Medicare-themed news event at the Mary Singleton Center.
The news release offers details as to the programs’ popularity. A key difference: While the Graham event did not stress Medicaid, the Brown event will, as the news release indicates:
“Many of Medicaid’s more than 71 million enrollees are children from low-income working families. Historically, pregnant women and children have benefited tremendously from Medicaid coverage. The program covers 45 percent of births nationwide; improving health outcomes for both mother and her baby. Medicaid is also the nation’s largest payer for long-term care services and supports, including home- and community-based care as well as nursing homes,” asserts the release from Brown’s office.
The differences in presentation illustrate the differences between the two political operations. Graham’s is clearly tailored toward winning in a swing district; Brown’s can play more toward the Democratic base. It would not be such a big issue, except that redistricting later this month might cause one or both of these candidates to recalibrate.
The very real possibility that one possible redistricting outcome could put Graham and Brown into the same district bears watching. Would they run against one another? Would one run for U.S. Senate?
The conventional wisdom has suggested that if one were to run for Senate, it would be Graham. But why not Brown, if that were the case?
Much is said about the fluidity in the Republican race. But there would seem to be room to move for Representative Brown, should she want it, on the Democratic side. Neither Patrick Murphy nor Alan Grayson have prohibitive advantages. Brown, meanwhile, has hold cards to play. Presences in multiple metro areas and markers to call in across the state and the country among them.
The bulk of redistricting speculation in Northeast Florida has to do with the congresswoman’s seat. Florida Politics will ask her about that and her plans at her Medicaid/Medicare news conference later Monday, which promises to be a lively and wide-ranging discussion between the Jacksonville media and the ever-quotable congresswoman.
