After months of rallying against Republican Senator Marco Rubio, former U.S. Representative Alan Grayson is now campaigning on a new platform as he runs to return to Congress in Orlando. Grayson is campaigning on lower tolls, lower taxes, and lower rent.
Grayson is pushing the 3-point plan as a way to stop runaway inflation. He is also using a political appeal directly to voters: “Getting good things done for you isn’t ‘pie in the sky,'” said Grayson. “It’s what Congress is for!”
To lower tolls, Grayson’s ad says that bonds on the East-West Expressway, SR 408, were paid off years ago. “It’s time to end the tolls on 408,” his latest paid ad says. He goes further by saying no tolls on any road that’s paid off. He is also calling for no tolls on I-4.
Grayson also wants to end taxes on gas and Social Security benefits, saying it will “put money back in our pockets.” While his ad does not say how he will make up the budget shortfall the lack of a gas tax would cause on infrastructure repair, his campaign seems focused on ways to reduce immediate costs for Floridians. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats in Congress have previously declined to support gas tax suspensions.
Grayson also wants rent control. This is an issue that is currently being discussed by Orange County Commissioners as local rent increases around greater Orlando hit residents. Grayson wants to provide property tax rebates to tenants and make rent tax-deductible as well.
“It’s time to put an end to inflation,” Grayson‘s campaign ad states. It all comes back to inflation.
Grayson jumped into the race to replace Rep. Val Demings in Orlando’s newly drawn congressional district. There are a lot of Democrats trying to replace Rep. Demings in Congress in addition to Grayson, including qualified candidates: civil rights attorney Natalie Jackson, former Rep. Corrine Brown, Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Randolph Bracy, Terrance Gray, Teresa Tachon, Khalid Muneer, Jack Achenbach, and Jeffrey Boone.
The Democratic primary is August 23rd.
