Former Florida Rep. Alan Grayson announced on Thursday that he is running in the primary race for Sen. Marco Rubio (R)'s seat in the U.S. Senate against Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy, a former Republican who Grayson says won't motivate Democrats to get to the polls.
In an interview with NBC, Grayson said, "Frankly, one reason why Democrats are willing to crawl over hot coals naked to vote for me is because I'm willing to tell the truth."
While Democratic Party leaders in Washington may be leery of Grayson's reputation as a shoot-from-the-hip bomb-thrower, the former congressman believes it is his passion that will connect to the Democratic base. Murphy, he said, is only "nominally and theoretically a Democrat."
"I have the highest name recognition of any candidate in the Senate race, and I'm winning against all of the Republicans in three polls," said Grayson. "I'm going to win. I'll tell you those people who are saying anything else are simply blind to the facts."
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) made its preferences plain on Thursday by making no mention of Grayson's entry into the race, but praising Murphy's candidacy.
According to NBC's Alex Jaffe, "Democrats see [Murphy] as better poised to appeal to swing voters in the general election in a state that skews older, and one that could see a surge in GOP turnout if one of its hometown heroes -- either former Gov. Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, who vacated the Senate seat to run for president -- is at the top of the ticket."
Grayson made his scorn for the DSCC and its shoddy record clear, saying, "They need a great deal of self-examination at this point...In the last cycle the DSCC lost every single open seat in the entire country except for one."
He went on, "In essence the DSCC is committing campaign malpractice every day and they really need to think hard about the decisions that they're making."
Watch Grayson's announcement video, embedded below:
