Alan Grayson withdraws from U.S. Senate race, files in SD 25

Former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson has ended his U.S. Senate candidacy and will run for a Florida Senate seat instead.

The Orlando Democrat enters an already competitive Democratic Primary in Senate District 25, assuming he qualifies before noon on Friday. State Rep. Kristen Arrington, a Kissimmee Democrat, and Carmen Torres, a community leader and wife to outgoing state Sen. Victor Torres, have already qualified in the Democratic Primary.

“I want to continue my work for that district to get good things done,” said Grayson, who represented Orange and Osceola counties during his time in Congress.

The Orlando Democrat was first elected to a term in the U.S. House in 2008, unseating Republican U.S. Rep. Ric Keller, before being defeated in 2010 by now-Republican U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster.

He later came back in a different district and was elected again in 2012 and won re-election in 2014. Grayson rattled off accomplishments specifically benefiting the current Senate District 25 during his time in Washington.

That includes bringing $50 million more to Osceola schools, funding an extension of Sunrail into the district and securing $10 million for Celebration’s hospital to fund cutting-edge research to keep soldiers alive. And he stressed that he did that under a Republican majority, passing more than 120 bipartisan bills.

He served in the U.S. House until he ran for U.S. Senate in 2016, when he lost the Democratic nomination to then-U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy. Grayson attempted another comeback to Congress in 2022 in an Orlando U.S. House district, but lost the Democratic nomination to now-U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost.

He qualified in April to run for U.S. Senate again. But last week, Grayson quietly submitted a letter to the Division of Elections formally withdrawing from the U.S. Senate race.

He was one of five Democrats challenging GOP U.S. Sen. Rick Scott. Through the first quarter, he trailed former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and businessman Stanley Campbell in fundraising in that Primary.

He acknowledged to Florida Politics that he ultimately could not raise the resources he believes are necessary to take on Scott, something that would also require massive registration of Democratic voters across the state. He expects such a campaign will ultimately cost around $50 million.

“It takes a lot of money to run statewide, and we weren’t able to put together resources to execute a plan,” he said.

Grayson had raised almost $519,000 through the first quarter of the year, and as of the end of March had under $98,000 in cash on hand for his U.S. Senate campaign.

But he told Florida Politics he does not plan to use the federal funding for his Senate race. He said he disagreed with Gov. Ron DeSantis using a state political committee to fund his presidential campaign, and won’t imitate that in reverse.

More relevant, he said he has the ability to self-fund a competitive race quickly.

“The needs of a state Senate campaign are the lowest I’ve ever faced,” Grayson said.

He also said that while his U.S. Senate bid was unsuccessful, he learned new ways to reach voters, and feels confident those newly available techniques will help in a state Senate campaign.