TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Friday called for U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson to drop out of the race for a Senate seat in Florida.
Reid said in a statement that Grayson claims to be progressive but seems to have “no moral compass.” He said Grayson used his office to unethically promote a hedge fund that until recently had been based in the Cayman Islands.
Grayson is running in the Democratic primary to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. His campaign did not immediately respond to Reid’s call to quit the race.
His business activities have come under scrutiny for the past several months. The New York Times on Thursday reported that Grayson promoted his international travels, some with congressional delegations, to solicit business for his hedge fund.
“His actions aren’t just disgraceful to the Democratic Party, they disgrace the halls of Congress,” Reid said.
Reid’s decision to take sides in a Democratic primary is unusual. But the Democratic establishment has been getting behind U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, seeing him as the stronger general election candidate in a swing state.
Grayson, a liberal firebrand who has said the GOP health plan was to hope people die quickly, has contended that he is the only true Democrat in the race.
Republicans have four major candidates: U.S. Rep. Ron Desantis, a tea party favorite backed by conservative groups; U.S. Rep. David Jolly, a former Washington lobbyist and congressional aide; Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera; and businessman Todd Wilcox, who has never run for political office.
Carlos Beruff, a wealthy Manatee County homebuilder, is also likely to jump into the GOP primary.
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So far the usual Democratic candidates have fared very poorly in Florida outside of the urbanized areas. Maybe they need someone to actually shake it up down there. Grayson to date has been popular among Democrats so it’s interesting to see Reid take this approach.
Well, if Grayson’s actions disgrace the halls of Congress, you’d better expand that criticism to a large number of other Congress members. If you swing your gloves a little wider, you could take down half the State Governors–or more–as well. Maybe you could take aim at Rick Scott as a start?
Nope. Murphy is the candidate that Democrats are getting behind, not Grayson. Grayson is merely showboating and trying to be a spoiler.
I have no problem with him staying in the House, but he is far too loose a cannon to be putting in the Senate for 6+ years.
This is a seat we have a real chance at picking up. The GOP list of candidates is surprising weak, and Murphy is quite solid. We don’t need Grayson mucking up the waters.
Why is this the first I’m hearing about Grayson potentially turning out to be a sleazeball?
But what would that do? Isn’t he term limited from running again? Harry Reid attacking a Republican is just a fundraiser that writes itself. I’m interested as to why he’s going at Grayson so hard. FL is potentially a great opportunity for Dems to pick up a Senate seat, and I don’t want to see anyone screw that up.