Grayson Wins DFA's Grassroots Contest

By Scott Bland  //  March 1, 2012 | 3:49 p.m.

Former Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson, who lost his reelection bid in 2010 but is attempting a comeback in Florida's new 9th Congressional District, is the winner of Democracy for America's Grassroots All-Stars Contest. Grayson beat out liberal activist Norman Solomon, who's running in retiring Rep. Lynn Woolsey's coastal Northern California district, and former astronaut Jose Hernandez, the Democrat running against GOP Rep. Jeff Denham in Central California.

DFA's competition supports a House challenger each cycle. As the winning candidate, Grayson, a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red-to-Blue" program, designating him as a premier recruit in a GOP-controlled district, will get a commitment of both $20,000 in donations from DFA members and volunteer hours in support of his campaign. As the runners-up, Solomon and Hernandez won smaller prizes. From DFA's release:

"Congratulations to Alan Grayson for winning the DFA Grassroots All-Star Endorsement. We are proud to endorse such a stalwart champion for true progressive values," said Jim Dean, Chair of DFA.

As a former member of Congress well-known for fiery attacks on Republicans, Grayson surely started out with a serious advantage in name identification, and he pressed it home in DFA's online voting. But one of the other results, Hernandez's third place finish, is also notable. California's redistricting opened a small window for Democrats in the middle of the Golden State's Central Valley, and Hernandez has become a popular Democratic standard bearer there. The DCCC speaks well of all its candidates, but DCCC Chair Steve Israel gushes when Hernandez comes up, and he comes up often.

At an event earlier this week, Israel brought up Hernandez unprompted when touting this cycle's "problem-solving" recruits. "Who could be more of a problem solver than a guy who has to figure out 'all systems go?'" Israel said. Hernandez's biography obviously endears him to the party: He's the son of migrant workers and a late learner of English who persistently applied and applied to NASA until he was finally accepted to their astronaut program -- has clearly endeared him to the party. Hernandez didn't win DFA's big prize, but third place behind Grayson is a sign the grassroots likes him as a candidate, too. Hernandez will need help to wrest California's new 10th District from Denham: The voting-age population is over one-third Latino and John McCain won less than 48 percent of its presidential vote in 2008, but George W. Bush did carry the new district with 58 percent in 2004. The DFA results show Hernandez has turned heads outside the Democratic establishment, too, and that's a good sign for the challenger's efforts.

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