The two congressional Democrats running to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., are trying to rally the party’s base behind them as they ready for what should be a competitive primary. Rubio is running for the Republican presidential nomination and has said he will not run for a second Senate term.
On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy’s, D-Fla., team showcased their candidate’s support for former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be the next president.
“Patrick and Team Murphy are proud to endorse Hillary Clinton for president,” the Murphy team emailed supporters. “Both Patrick and Hillary believe that we can work together to build a better economy for tomorrow and strengthen our middle class. And as excited as we are about a possible President Hillary Clinton, we’re even more pumped about a possible Senator Patrick Murphy.”
The Murphy camp highlighted a letter from Clinton to the Florida congressman in late July thanking him for his “early support and enthusiastic encouragement.” While Clinton has not endorsed Murphy in the Senate race, she praised him for his “faith in my leadership, and for joining me in this great fight.”
While Murphy has been trying to tie himself with Clinton, his chief primary rival U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson’s, D-Fla., campaign has been trying to undermine his liberal credentials.
David Keith, Grayson’s deputy campaign manager, jabbed Murphy last week on fiscal issues, including Social Security and Medicare. In an email to supporters, Keith accused Murphy of “shilling for his buddies on Wall Street by calling for ‘across the board’ cuts to Social Security and Medicare” and following the “same playbook we’ve seen from the Republicans” running for president.
“The last thing the Democratic Party needs is another errand boy for fat cats on Wall Street who are killing the middle class,” Keith insisted. “We need a champion in the United States Senate like Rep. Alan Grayson who won’t just fight to protect programs like Social Security and Medicare, but will work to expand them.
“This race is a fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party, and we cannot give Wall Street cronies like Patrick Murphy the chance to make devastating cuts to the programs seniors rely on,” Keith added.
Grayson himself also came out swinging at Murphy last week, insisting he should have been in the audience at the GOP presidential debate.
“Murphy is a Wall Street errand boy pretending to be a Democrat,” Grayson insisted. “He’d be better off with the likes of Jeb Bush and Donald Trump than running as a Democrat in Florida. All three of them are desperate to choke off seniors by slashing Medicare and Social Security to fund a tax cut for their millionaire and billionaire backers. But seniors don’t need a benefit cut -– they need a raise, and we can’t let conservatives like Murphy, Bush, and Trump destroy the social contract we’ve made with our seniors.
“I said it last week, but the difference between Murphy and the Republicans is like the difference between Coke Light, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero -– it’s all the same and they’re equally bad for you,” Grayson added. “Murphy thinks he’s golden because all the Big Money is on his side.”
Attorney Pam Keith, waging an underdog campaign for the nomination, continues to try to appeal to Democratic voters as well. This week, Keith turned her attention to restoring voting rights for felons and praised a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution which might be on the ballot in next year’s general election.
“The petition would put the issue of rights restoration on the ballot in Florida in 2016,” Keith noted. “While I think it's a great first step, and reform is needed and we need to restore the rights of 1.5 million Floridians around the state, I don't think it goes far enough, and I fear that if we leave out certain classes of offenders on the path to freedom, that we won't stop to go back to get them later, and I believe that all -- not just a few -- should have the ability to have their rights restored when they have completed their sentence and parole.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
