Alan Grayson To Announce Whether He'll Make Senate Race Interesting Tomorrow

Alan Grayson might be the most interesting man in Florida politics, and should he officially announce his run for Senate tomorrow he could make the race one of the most interesting to watch in the nation. 

With Marco Rubio running for the presidency, that leaves his Senate seat wide open. The only serious candidate announced so far on the Democratic side is Rep. Patrick Murphy, a milquetoast moderate who is a former registered Republican — the kind of guy Florida Democrats have a habit of nominating for ultimately failing statewide races. On the Republican side so far is only Rep. Ron DeSantis, officially. He's a conservative firebrand for sure, but polling shows he has a long way to go to becoming better known. 

Grayson, meanwhile, is known almost as much for his unapologetically progressive principals as he is for the high-tempered barbs he's often delivering. This is the guy who said the Republican's health-care plan for Americans was for them to "die slowly," who got in trouble for dismissing a Federal Reserve advisor as merely a "K-street whore," and, more recently, for saying of his ex-wife, "Gold diggers gotta dig." He's made for the cable TV news age, and Florida political reporters are practically salivating over the chance to cover what they hope will surely be a bombastic statewide Grayson campaign. 

Not convinced of the potential entertainment factor? Here's a YouTube video of "Alan Grayson's Greatest Hits."


According to multiple reports, Grayson will make a televised announcement tomorrow about whether he'll challenge Murphy for the Democratic nomination. Most expect him to do just that. 

Murphy is the favorite of the Democratic establishment in Florida. That's the same establishment who have brought you election loser after election loser. (Christ! Sink! Davis! Castor! McBride! Who? Exactly.) Grayson, meanwhile, has the support of more progressive factions of the party, including the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida. 

A lawyer by trade, Grayson is one of the richest sitting members of the U.S. House, but is also an adept fundraiser. 

So far most polls shows Grayson and Murphy in a neck-and-neck race, but most have both of them winning over any presumed Republican challengers.