Rep. Alan Grayson slammed Democratic leadership on Sunday, arguing that they dismissed progressive candidates for Senate this year and tossed them “in the garbage” in favor of establishment choices in key states.
In an interview, Grayson pointed to Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards and former Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak as progressives who ran earlier this year only to be spurned by the Democratic establishment. Edwards and Sestak ended up losing to Rep. Chris Van Hollen and Katie McGinty, respectively. Grayson made the comments when asked if he’s lost support from Democrats because of some comments that aren’t considered “civil” by many in in the party.
“No. I don’t think that has anything to do with it at all,” Grayson started. “You can look around the country — the Democratic leadership put Donna Edwards, who would have been second black woman ever to serve the Senate, in the trash can because she’s a got a mind of her own.”
“They took Joe Sestak, a three-star admiral … the highest ranking military official ever to serve in Congress, and they put him in the garbage can because he’s not obedient either,” Grayson said. “They want people who will simply do what they’re told, and collect that cash from Wall Street and leave it at that.”
“In my case, I’m different. I’m the only member of Congress, the only one, who has raised most of his campaign funds from small donors. They fear that,” Grayson continued. “They have a system where they go and they reach into pockets of billionaires and the multinational corporations and they pay for their campaigns that way. I have broken the mold. They don’t want that.”
Most notably, Grayson has clashed with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over his candidacy for Senate in Florida, where he is opposing fellow Rep. Patrick Murphy. Reid backed both Van Hollen and McGinty, while McGinty has earned the support of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and a host of other Democratic heavy hitters.
The winner of the Murphy/Grayson matchup will likely take on Sen. Marco Rubio, who announced last week that he will indeed seek re-election to the Senate despite saying for nearly a year that he would either be president or a private citizen come January.
