Alan Grayson Hopes To Ride #BlueWave Back To Congress — But Where Will He Run?

Maverick liberal Alan Grayson is hoping to ride a 2018 anti-Trump wave back into Congress — but he hasn’t said which Florida district he’s going to run in.
The outspoken Orlando-area progressive, who was involved in a messy divorce, has continued to raise stacks of cash since leaving Congress for an unsuccessful Senate run in 2016.
And he ticks off an impressive list of achievements such as defending Social Security, serving local veterans and winning funding for a new commuter rail line in Central Florida.
Grayson has filed paperwork to run against GOP Rep. Daniel Webster. But some believe Grayson may throw his had in the ring for a nearby seat left open when GOP Rep. Dennis Ross abruptly decided to retire.
The district Grayson once represented is now held by Darren Soto, a Democrat who is the first Puerto Rican to win a Florida congressional seat.
Grayson says he is one of the few Jewish lawmakers who talks about his Jewish values even to non-Jewish audiences.
“Google Alan Grayson and tikkun olam and you’ll see what I mean,” he told the Forward in a brief interview.
Grayson has high name recognition throughout Central Florida and has proven to be a tenacious campaigner. He has a nearly $700,000 warchest for a run.
But he has made a long list of enemies — including much of the Democratic Party establishment — which could make a return to Washington tough, even in a Democratic year.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 2
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
- 3
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 4
Fast Forward Cory Booker’s rabbi has notes on Booker’s 25-hour speech
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Texas bakery reportedly becomes first bagel shop to be named James Beard Award finalist
-
Fast Forward ‘That’s Simchas Torah’: The Jewish Val Kilmer moment you might have missed
-
Opinion I co-wrote Biden’s antisemitism strategy. Trump is making the threat worse
-
Fast Forward From ‘October 8’ to ‘The Encampments,’ these new documentaries illuminate the post-Oct. 7 American experience
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.