Ryan Ray
Gwen Graham is on a roll in terms of landing choice committee spots. Having already nabbed a seat on the coveted Armed Services Committee, she announced today that she’ll also serve on the Agriculture Committee.
Graham told SaintPetersBlog on Saturday that the assignments were her top two choices, a rare coup for a freshman representative in the minority party.
“Farmers and rural communities are the backbone of North Florida. Our economy depends on their hard work. Our families depend on them to provide food,” Graham said in a statement. “On the Agriculture Committee, I will be a voice our farmers can depend on to represent their interests.”
Graham’s vanquished opponent in November’s midterm elections, former Congressman Steve Southerland, tried to inoculate himself against Graham’s portrayals of him as an ideological extremist by brandishing his agricultural bona fides.
Southerland may have been more successful from a seat on the committee that he was never able to wrangle, likely owing to competition from his huge freshman class following the 2010 Tea Party wave, which swept him ashore in Congressional District 2.
The announcement was met by fond words from Florida Farm Bureau President John Hoblick, who issued the following:
“I want to congratulate Rep. Gwen Graham upon her appointment to the House Agriculture Committee. Florida’s farm families look forward to working with her on a variety of federal issues that affect their livelihoods. They will be knowledgeable resources for Rep. Graham in both the development of new legislation and the application of existing policies.”
Possibly foreshadowing still more “North Florida Way”-style bipartisanship from Graham, Republican Ted Yoho of Gainesville will join her as the committee’s only Floridians.
