A.G. Gancarski
As she mulls over a potential gubernatorial run in 2018, Rep. Gwen Graham is visiting areas throughout the state.
This weekend: Jacksonville and Northeast Florida see Graham, who will speak later Saturday at the Florida Young Democrats convention.
Before that, Graham explored the St. Johns River, via a pontoon boat of Jacksonville University’s Marine Science program.
Curious about everything – the dolphins that manifested, the manatees that didn’t, and the relationship of the river to the city itself – the ride saw Graham asking probing questions.
Afterwards, Rep. Graham answered a few.
Graham noted that she’s “spent a lot of time in NE Florida,” having been “blessed to travel across the state her entire life” given her father’s statewide political career.
“Florida is unique,” Graham added. “Three or four states within one.”
And understanding the importance of unity, Graham pushed this week for F-35 fighter jets to be deployed in Jacksonville and Homestead, in her role on the House Armed Services Committee.
“I believe that as the third largest state, Florida should be working together. We made sure Jacksonville was considered for F-35’s,” Graham said.
Graham is leaving Congress this year – and vows to finish strong.
Also leaving, Rep. Ander Crenshaw, who co-signed the letter to the Air Force Secretary.
Graham has an “extremely positive” relationship with Crenshaw, and the rest of the Florida delegation, she said.
“I made a point of getting to know the Florida Delegation,” Graham observed, inviting chiefs of staff to meet in her office early in her term.
“Many of them who’d served quite a while,” said Graham, “didn’t know each other.”
Thus, they had a chance to make new friends.
Graham will be speaking to the Florida Young Democrats Saturday evening, an organization two steps to the left of her “North Florida Way,” which privileges bipartisanship.
There won’t be any tailoring of her message to a left-leaning group; Graham said she would “talk to them just as I do anybody else.”
Indeed, with many of those who work with her being half her age, Graham lauds the “positive impact of being surrounded by young people.”
Graham, who was ranked the most independent member of the Florida delegation, and 9th in Congress as a whole, wants to know “who are those eight above me.”
Central to that independent streak: the willingness to fact find, as she did Saturday morning on the St. Johns River.
“This is an example of what I do,” Graham said, adding that there is a direct correlation between protecting the environment and the economic development most in the state want.
Northeast Florida, and North Florida, present special opportunities.
“So much is undeveloped,” Graham said, and those visiting this region can “still see what Old Florida looks like.”
