Mitch Perry
Alan Grayson and Darryl Rouson teamed up Thursday night to try to win support in their respective campaigns while speaking in northwest Hillsborough County.
“I am honored to be here today to introduce a man who from Day 1 in Washington D.C. has taken the tea party agenda to the stage, and has whooped them every time he got a chance to do so,” Rouson said in introducing Grayson to a crowd of 20 people who gathered at the Upper Tampa Bay Regional Public Library in Westchase Thursday night. “He’s been the most vociferous and committed opponent of the conservative Republican agenda that has hurt working-class families.”
Rouson said that, like himself, Grayson had become a “top target of the right-wing and big money interests that are scared to death of what he represents: And what he represents is speaking truth to power.”
Rouson, who has served for the past eight years as a state representative, is attempting to win the state Senate District 19 seat based in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. He’s running in the Democratic primary against Ed Narain, Betty Reed, and Augie Ribeiro.
Grayson returned the compliment, saying, “What we desperately need now is people in public office who are unbought and unbiased. Who don’t owe anything to anybody but the people. And Darryl reflects that.”
The Orlando Congressman — trying desperately to pull out what at this stage would be considered an upset victory over Patrick Murphy in Tuesday’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary, went on to say “you won’t find a better champion for the environment anywhere in Tallahassee. You won’t find a better champion for women’s rights. You won’t find a better champion for what the middle class in America actually needs today. And you won’t find a better champion who is willing to speak truth to power. There’s an old saying that it’s necessary to speak truth to power even if it makes you quake inside. Well, it’s actually Republicans who quake inside when it’s Darryl saying those words.”
Grayson went on to boast about how he’s raised most of his campaign contributions from small donors, and that distinguishes him from the other members of Congress who beg for campaign contributions for hours every day.
“What we represent — Darryl and I — is an alternative paradigm to that; the idea is very simple. If you do good things for people, then they will show you their support.”
The two spent about an hour at the event before traveling to Pinellas County to attend the Pinellas County Democratic Executive Committee meeting.
