We wanted to draw your attention to an important primary happening next
week for Val Demings' open seat for Congress in Florida.

The consensus candidate is Maxwell Frost -- the former organizing director
for March For Our Lives and super inspiring leader of the future.

Former Congressman Alan Grayson made a last-minute filing to run against
him, and below is a new PunchBowl News article about how members of
Congress (Congressional Progressive Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus,
Congressional Hispanic Caucus) desperately do not want him back. Grayson
sadly is doing last-minute dirty tricks in this race.

[ [link removed] ]We're asking folks to make a donation to Maxwell Frost's campaign if
you have not already. He can place final TV buys today, can continue to
fight back against Grayson's dirty online ads and robocall tricks over the
weekend, and fund Get Out The Vote on Tuesday.

Thanks for your consideration. -- The PCCC Elections Team,
([ [link removed] ]@BoldProgressive)

PUNCHBOWL NEWS 8/18/22:

Inside the ‘chaotic’ Florida primary pitting a Gen Z activist against Alan
Grayson

[ [link removed] ]Turn on images to see Maxwell Frost and Alan Grayson

Maxwell Alejandro Frost boasts the support of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus PAC, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus BOLD PAC, Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and other prominent figures on the left. It’s
an impressive showing for a Gen Z political activist running his first
campaign in the race to fill Rep. Val Demings’ (D-Fla.) Orlando-area seat.

But top Democrats are growing worried that despite Frost’s overwhelming
endorsement advantage, his main Democratic competitor — controversial
former Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) — could find his way back to Congress.

Thanks to a fractured 10-person field — which includes convicted felon and
former Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), state Sen. Randolph Bracy and even
Demings’ pastor, Terence Gray — a candidate could advance from the Tuesday
primary with just over one quarter of the vote.

Increasingly, Democrats fear that candidate could be Grayson. The
pugnacious pol earned a reputation for cursing out reporters, fellow
Democrats and congressional Republicans alike during a tumultuous career
that began 16 years ago.

The differences between the two candidates are stark. Frost is a
25-year-old Afro-Cuban first-time office seeker. Frost got involved in
organizing for gun control measures following the 2018 Parkland school
shooting and, if elected, would become the first Gen Z member of Congress.
The 64-year-old Grayson, on the other hand, has served three
non-consecutive terms in the House and mounted two unsuccessful Senate
campaigns. He’s pretty much been running for some office since 2006.

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), chair of CHC BOLD PAC, said he’s “concerned”
about Grayson’s candidacy.

“We know that polling is really tight, but we also know that Maxwell has
got a lot of momentum on his side,” Gallego said. “You gotta remember
[Frost] started with zero name ID, and now the last polling has him all
tied.”

While the Congressional Black Caucus PAC hasn’t endorsed in the race, its
chair — House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.) — is
warning Democratic voters against electing Grayson:

“Our country is made better by having representatives who reflect our
rich diversity. … Floridians deserve a representative who will fight for
them and not just someone who wants to use their wealth to gain power.”

Grayson’s significant personal resources and high name ID may allow him to
squeak through in the primary. The former member is centering his campaign
on “lower tolls, lower taxes and lower rent.” Grayson mailers and yard
signs are omnipresent in the district, according to people familiar with
the race.

In response to Frost’s endorsement advantage, the Grayson campaign is
sending mailers featuring glowing tributes from top Democrats like
President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, late Rep. John Lewis
(D-Ga.) and more. None of these luminaries, however, have endorsed Grayson
this cycle. And a quote from Speaker Nancy Pelosi is particularly roiling
Frost backers.

“I love Alan Grayson,” the mailer reports Pelosi saying.

But omitted from the mailer is the context of a 2018 interview the speaker
gave to the Tampa Bay Times. In that interview, Pelosi urges Grayson not
to primary Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.)

[ [link removed] ][IMG]

“The speaker has not endorsed this race,” Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill
said.

“It is incredibly deceptive. If you can only try to win by lying to your
future constituents, it’s kind of sad, right?” senior CPC member Rep. Mark
Pocan (D-Wis.) added. “And I just wish that Alan would not think about
Alan for a change… unfortunately, some people are just very selfish.”

We asked Grayson about the use of these quotes in his campaign.

“Has [Pelosi] ever said that about Mark Pocan?” Grayson said, rejecting
claims that the mailer is misleading. “I think that Pelosi chooses her
words very carefully… I was in the trenches with Nancy Pelosi for six
years. What has Maxwell Frost or any other candidate done that’s
comparable to that?”

While Frost plays up a number of prominent local endorsements — including
rising Democratic star state Rep. Anna Eskamani — other Florida Democrats
are staying out of the 10th District primary.

“It’s a chaotic race. That’s all I have to say,” said Soto, who Grayson
unsuccessfully primaried in 2018.

“I know just about every person on the Democratic side in that race,”
Demings added. “My pastor is in that race, state senator [is] in that
race, former members of Congress. So may the best man or woman win the
primary and then it’s on to victory during the general.”

“We have the momentum,” Frost campaign manager Kevin Lata said.

Grayson, for his part, is unimpressed by Frost’s endorsement record.

“[Frost] regards that as being important because he recognizes that he
needs to validate himself in some way, shape or form since he is 25
years old, and without any practical experience whatsoever in public
office or even campaigning.”

— Max Cohen

[ [link removed] ]Please make a donation to Maxwell Frost's campaign.

 

 

 


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