With less than a year to go until he leaves the White House, President Barack Obama and his administration are getting increasingly active in the largest swing state on the electoral map.
Obama and his team are taking sides in Democratic primaries across Florida with the president and Vice President Joe Biden backing U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., in the race to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in the Senate. Murphy is taking on U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., attorney and Navy veteran Pam Keith and life coach Lateresa Jones in the Democratic primary.
Doubling down on their endorsement of Murphy earlier in the month, Obama and Biden continued their efforts on behalf this week. Biden campaigned in South Florida with Murphy on Monday.
“He's a great congressman, and he's going to be a great senator," Biden said about Murphy according to the Tampa Bay Times.
But liberals aren’t quite ready to coronate Murphy. On Tuesday, liberal group Democracy for America (DFA) and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) threw their support behind Grayson.
With more than 75,000 members in Florida, DFA Chairman Jim Dean, the brother of former Gov. Howard Dean, D-Vt., insisted his group could help Grayson prevail. Dean had kind words for the Central Florida Democrat on Tuesday.
“Whether he was taking on Republicans’ 'die quickly' health care plan or standing up to his own party’s willingness to consider Social Security cuts, Alan Grayson has been a steadfast champion for populist progressive priorities and one of the fiercest allies grassroots Democrats have in Washington,” Dean said. “Having a fighter like Alan Grayson in the U.S. Senate would be nothing short of game-changing for our country and Florida’s struggling working families, and we couldn’t be more excited to help make that happen in the weeks and months ahead.”
This is not the only Democratic primary in Florida that Obama is taking sides in. On Monday, Obama backed U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), who is under fire from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and his supporters for limiting the number of presidential debates and on other matters. Wasserman Schultz is facing primary challenges from attorney Tim Canova and campaign finance reform activist Doug Hughes.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
