Scott Powers
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson has won the national endorsement of the Progressive Democrats of America in his race for the Democratic nomination to run for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat, he said Thursday.
The group, which held a townhall-style teleconference with Grayson last week, had been backing him informally since before he officially entered the race last summer. A news release from Grayson’s Senate campaign states that last month 90 percent of the PDA’s Florida membership voted to endorse him.
Grayson is facing U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens lawyer Pam Keith in the Democratic battle. The Republican contest to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is even more crowded.
“Rep. Alan Grayson fights for the progressive change we need, on the issues which the PDA has long advocated,” the group stated in Grayson’s release. “We’re confident that the hard-hitting honesty he brought to the U.S. House of Representatives will bring some much needed backbone to the U.S. Senate.”
The group specifically cited Grayson’s proposals to expand Medicare and Social Security, support health reform, and his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and to “unnecessary and costly wars.”
“Democrats win statewide races only when they have true support from the grassroots of the party. That’s just who the Progressive Democrats of America are,” Grayson stated in the release. “With that national army of progressive warriors standing at my side, I know that we can bring a justice, equality and peace agenda to the U.S. Senate.”
