More news out of Florida today:
Former Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope has endorsed Alan Grayson for the Florida U.S. Senate race.
“Alan Grayson is the candidate in Florida’s Senate race who best possesses both the intellect and political courage to effectively end our fossil fuel dependency,” Pope said. “If we want to give our grandchildren a planet that has not been ravaged by climate change, he’s our best hope.”
“Nearly every candidate Grayson faces seems oblivious to the Gulf oil spill, California’s methane leak, Michigan’s disastrous pipeline rupture, and the everyday environmental damage that our fossil fuel addiction inflicts,” Pope added. “But Alan Grayson gets it. He’s the only candidate in this race we can trust to take up this generational fight in a serious way.”
Pope served the Sierra Club in the position of Executive Director from 1992 until 2010.
“Carl Pope is a true environmental champion and a personal hero of mine, so I’m deeply honored to have his support,” Grayson said. “With his help, I will take my longstanding fight against the Dirty Energy Lobby to the Senate, and help build the sane, sensible climate change policies we desperately need to ensure that our children’s children can inherit a clean, habitable planet.
Grayson right now is running against Rep. Patrick Murphy (D. FL) for the Democratic nomination and the race is very tight:
A poll commissioned by two progressive Democrats’ groups supporting Alan Grayson finds that the Orlando congressman leads U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy in a tight race for the Democratic nomination for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat.
The poll, commissioned by Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy For America, was conducted by Public Policy Polling on March 23 and 24, and gave Grayson 33 percent and Murphy, of Jupiter, 32 percent, while 35 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said they were undecided.
The poll, publicly released Friday morning, did not ask about Democrat Pam Keith of Palm Beach Gardens.
The new PPP poll was taken of 829 likely Florida Democratic primary voters. The first question had a margin of error of 3.4 percent, which means the two candidates are statistically tied. The second question was of a split sample of just 468 voters, and had a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
The New York Times recently covered the U.S. Senate in Florida and how President Obama and Vice President Biden have endorsed Murphy and the role of the crowded GOP primary to succeed outgoing U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R. FL):
The Senate race in Florida has been heavily overshadowed by the presidential race, even though it was Mr. Rubio’s loss to Donald J. Trump in the primary here last month that ended his campaign.
In the Senate race, the Republican field is perhaps even more unsettled, and includes some of the dynamics of the presidential contest. It includes two members of Congress, Representatives David Jolly and Ron DeSantis; the lieutenant governor, Carlos Lopez-Cantera; and two wealthy businessmen, Carlos Beruff and Todd Wilcox.
Mr. DeSantis, for instance, is a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, and like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has advocated shutting down the government. Mr. Jolly, who worked as general counsel to his predecessor, Bill Young, is viewed as more of an establishment, conservative insider, while the businessmen are hoping to capitalize on the nationwide Republican backlash against traditional politicians.
Republican insiders said they recognized that the stakes could not be bigger and that they would be particularly glad to run against Mr. Grayson, though they expressed confidence of victory either way.
“Florida will decide who the next president will be and will decide the balance of the U.S. Senate,” said Joe Gruters, the Republican Party chairman in Sarasota, who is also leading Mr. Trump’s campaign in Florida. “The two races, no question, are very tied together.”
Such calculations certainly help explain why the White House and the national Democratic establishment have taken the unusual step of intervening. A report by the House ethics committee on Mr. Grayson’s investment activities is due out this week and could deal a further setback to his campaign.
The Democratic and GOP primaries aren’t until August so this is going to be a long race and important one for both parties in the fight for the U.S. Senate.