Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., a member of Hillary Clinton’s “Florida Leadership Council,” announced on Monday that he would switch his support to Bernie Sanders after the Vermont senator overwhelmingly won an online poll the congressman conducted.
“Now, after listening to We, the People, I feel the Bern,” Grayson wrote in his endorsement. “I will vote for him as a super-delegate at the Democratic National Convention. And I enthusiastically join, shoulder to shoulder, his political revolution.”
The Florida Senate candidate joined Clinton’s leadership council in November, but said that did not equal an endorsement. Now, as Grayson faces a senatorial primary race against moderate Democrat Rep. Patrick Murphy, his move to Sanders will potentialy help him win over more liberal Florida voters.
Over 400,000 Democrats voted in Grayson’s online poll — more Democrats than voted in the South Carolina primary or the New Hampshire primary — and chose Sanders over Clinton 86 percent to 14 percent.
“Instead of selling my super delegate vote to the highest bidder — like most members of the un-Democratic party these days — I am offering up my vote to you. You decide: Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. The choice is, literally, yours,” Grayson said in the poll.
Grayson is now the fifth U.S. congressman to endorse Sanders. Florida Democrats vote March 15 and Clinton is heavily favored.
