Alan Grayson

Age: 68

Political Party: Florida Democratic Party

Where they live: Windermere

Where they work: Government contracts attorney (self employed)

Prior work experience:

Founder of telecommunications company IDT Corporation
Attorney working in contract law and government contract law, later cofounding his own firm Grayson & Kubli
Cofounder of the nonprofit Alliance for Aging Research

Prior political or public service experience:

Served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 2009-11, and from 2013-17

Campaign website

Platform/priorities: According to his site, his priorities are to lower housing costs, more money for schools, lower energy costs, flood protection, modernize sewer to save the springs, infrastructure that keeps up with growth

Why he is running:

Endorsements: N/A

Campaign finance report: $212,164.33 in contributions

Fun fact about the candidate:

Candidate Q&A: The questions below are based on voter questions and expressed priorities. Each of the candidates within a race were asked the same questions and given the same amount of time to respond. The candidates’ answers were fact checked, checked for spelling and grammar but otherwise unedited.

Top problem and your suggested solution:
The top problem is the looming Trump dictatorship. My suggested solution is to fight back by any means necessary, from impeachment to civil disobedience. “Name and shame.”

Problem 2 and your suggested solution:
The second most-pressing problem is the cost of living, caused in large part by Trump. Most people feel caught in a rat race that they just can’t win. But there are numerous rational solutions. We should eliminate all taxes on driving, right down to the tax on driver’s licenses. There should be no federal income tax on households making less than $50,000, which is a bill that I wrote when I was in Congress. Healthcare costs are crushing people, and the solution is Medicare for All. (I also wrote a law to do that.) The cost of owning and keeping a home is skyrocketing. One solution, for Florida, would be to extend national flood insurance to cover hurricanes and storms (another law that I wrote). Another solution would be to allow everyone to refinance mortgages through the state at 1.5% lower interest rates. There is such a program, and only 0.1% of Florida homeowners use it. Another solution would be to increase the national minimum wage, which is lower now (adjusted for inflation) than it was in 1968. If it had kept up with productivity, it would be $20 or more per hour now. In other words, I am in favor of rational thought to solve national (and local) problems.

Problem 3 and your suggested solution:
We are not doing enough to invest in future generations. Every child should be able to see a doctor when he or she is sick, and get all the care that’s needed to be the best that he or she can be. In other words, Medicare should cover everyone until 18. The cost is minimal, because most children are healthy. We need to get children off their phones and paying attention in class. We need to make special effort to meet special needs. We need to teach more subjects that are germane to living, like how to find a job and how to pay your taxes and how to stay healthy, in lieu of the details of European history. Schooling has to recognize that each child is a unique bundle of talents, skills, capabilities and limitations, each one on a different arc through life, and school should bring out the best in each one. We need to improve pre-K childcare dramatically, and subsidize it in the same way that we do for K-12 children. One reason why younger people are having far fewer children is that they just can’t afford it. That has to change.

For incumbents: Why do you deserve re-election to this race? For challengers and open seats: Why do you deserve to be elected in this race?
Because I will do the job best.

According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say housing affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue?
As I said, the cost of owning and keeping a home is skyrocketing. One solution, for Florida, would be to extend national flood insurance to cover hurricanes and storms (a law that I wrote). Another solution would be to allow everyone to refinance mortgages through the state at 1.5% lower interest rates. There is such a program, and only 0.1% of FL homeowners use it. On a typical mortgage balance of $350,000, that would save more than $5000 per year. The insurer of last resort, “Citizens,” is a disgrace, and it should be prohibited from operating at a profit at our expense. Regarding renters, the federal government rations its programs to extend federal credit for building apartments by not appropriating money for them, and these programs should be expanded substantially. Renters actually pay more in property taxes, indirectly, than homeowners do, and to be fair, there should be the equivalent of a “homestead exemption” for renters.

Will you vote YES or NO on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes, and explain your position. How would you replace lost revenue – fees and/or service reductions?
We should do whatever people want to do. If people decide, collectively and through legal means, that property taxes need to be cut, that is democracy in action. As to how to make it up, I would be against service reductions, because state services generally are already miserable.

Utility costs are rising for customers in Florida, and the proliferation of data centers is expected to exacerbate that issue. How should Florida’s utility regulators respond?
Data centers will require a substantial expansion of utilities, and the data centers should bear the cost of that themselves. If capacity is expanded, then there is no justification for any price increase to anyone else. The real problem with utility prices is the complete collapse of state regulation in Florida. If Florida had a properly functioning Public Service Commission, then this wouldn’t be the same kind of problem. There still would be the huge problem of massive fuel cost increases due to errors at the top, but that’s the price we all are paying.

What do you think is the biggest environmental issue the government should address in Florida?
I don’t think that there is a “biggest” issue. The government is responsible for clean air, clean water and clean food. It also is responsible for minimizing pollution, and punishing [violators] when appropriate. It also is responsible for respecting and preserving nature, and protecting recreation. And the only opportunity that we have to reduce climate chaos is through government action. As the saying goes, “there is no Planet B.”

Do you agree with the current federal and state governments’ approaches to immigration enforcement? Why or why not?
I think that federal immigration policy has degenerated into hateful dehumanization. Yes, of course, the law has to be enforced, but why do we have to put children in cages? Why “Alligator Alcatraz,” where immigrants were treated worse than murderers? Why are we sending Bangladeshis to South Sudan, to be [dead on arrival]? This administration is mean, nasty and cruel at every opportunity to everyone in its reach, and immigration enforcement is just one example of that. If the rule is “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” then God help us all.

Do you believe abortion restrictions in Florida should be more strict, less strict or stay the same?
All legal restrictions on abortions before the last trimester should be eliminated entirely. Every woman should decide whether to be a parent on her own, period. It is no one else’s business.

Readers shared concerns about overdevelopment in the Greater Oviedo and Winter Springs community. We know that local municipalities must allow for density based on state population projections. What can be done at the state level to balance property owners’ rights and the desires of your constituents?
There should be no state preemption of local decision-making on land use.

Readers complained about roadway traffic in the community. What steps would you take to address this issue from the office that you’re seeking?
Because I am running again for Congress, the answer is more federal traffic safety money, such as for upgrading intersections, and more federal road money, to ease congestion on major arteries. This is a perfect use of earmark money.

Do you support AI data centers being built in the community. Why or why not? What would you do to curtail or incentivize their development?
AI data centers should have to obey local land use rules: no special exemptions. AI data centers also should have to pay for the necessary increase in utility capacity. The local community should be held harmless from data center pollution. Otherwise, AI data centers should be treated like other business facilities.

How do you balance the idea of home rule when state lawmakers preempt decisions from local governments?
This simply shouldn’t happen. I am hard-pressed to think of any legitimate example of state preemption of local decision-making. It’s simply a power-play by the Tallahassee Mob.

Do you support the rural boundary in Seminole County? How do you balance that with private landowners’ rights to build?
I support the normal democratic process, as it applies to land use. If the voters don’t like what the County Commission is doing in that regard, they should assert themselves.