Conservatives Pounce on New Senate Candidate Alan Grayson

Conservative groups welcomed U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., into the U.S. Senate race with open arms. 

In an interview on  WKMG TV in Orlando, Grayson announced on Thursday that he was entering the race to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016. Grayson will face U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., in next year’s primary.

Conservatives quickly fired away at Grayson. 

“Washington Democrats may be recoiling in horror as Alan Grayson enters the Florida Senate race, but American Crossroads welcomes him with open arms,” said Ian Prior, a spokesman for American Crossroads which has ties to Karl Rove, the GOP strategist who helped George W. Bush win the presidency. “Democrats up and down the ticket in Florida are going to have to answer for everything Grayson says; even more so if this dyed-in-the-wool liberal and Democrat version of Todd Akin ultimately defeats the manicured opportunist and former Republican Patrick Murphy.” 

Taylor Budowich, the executive director of the Tea Party Express, came out swinging at Grayson on Wednesday.  

“An electoral walloping, like the one the Democrats received in 2014, usually serves as a much-needed gut-check for a party embarrassingly out-of-touch with voters,” Budowich said. “But with Debbie Wasserman-Shultz still in charge, Democrats continue to pump out batty candidates like Alan Grayson.

“Grayson is the epitome of everything that’s wrong with the Democratic Party,” Budowich added. “He is anti-women, having been caught calling a female he didn’t like a 'whore.' He is dishonest, running one of the most disgustingly deceitful political attack ads of recent memory. And he hypocritically preaches tolerance, unless you have an opinion different than his, in that case he compares you to murderous organizations like the Klu Klux Klan. Alan Grayson has proven throughout his career that he only has tolerance for people that agree with his offensive, extremist views —e liminating nearly the entire electorate. 

“Democrats had a chance to learn from 2014 and abandon the failed policy agenda of a party detached from America,” Budowich concluded. “Instead, they’ve doubled down on the past. If one of Hillary Clinton’s many scandals doesn’t grenade Democrats' 2016 prospects in Florida, Alan Grayson’s bigotry and chauvinism sure will.”