In many ways, the 2016 Senate race in Florida has felt like a Sophie’s Choice situation. Actually, it would be more like Sophie’s Choice if instead of wanting to save her two children, Meryl Streep wished she could trade both of them in for one much better one. While I would never dare compare myself to the iconic and elegant talent that is Meryl Streep, I’ve found myself facing a grim avoidance-avoidance conflict when it comes to casting my vote for who will be the Democratic Senate nominee for Florida this election.
My choice comes down to the two viable options for Marco Rubio’s vacant seat, fairly-centrist Rep. Patrick Murphy and Rep. Alan “Senator with guts” Grayson.” For someone like me who tends to lean very far left on the issues, it would seem like an easy choice to vote for Grayson. After all, Grayson has earned a reputation as a “liberal firebrand” throughout his career in politics for his strong progressive stances and fierce rebukes of Republicans. On the issues, we often stand parallel. Grayson has a perfect record of support for marriage equality, has been a strong opponent of military intervention in the Middle East, supports public funding for abortion, and endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election. With a record like that, he should be any die-hard progressive’s dream come true, especially compared to Patrick Murphy, who has often broken away from fellow Democrats on votes in Congress and has been criticized for being too conservative to be a Democratic senator.
This is why it often comes as a surprise to my progressive friends (and honestly, sometimes a surprise to myself) when I tell them that I will be voting for Patrick Murphy this August, and for one reason above all others. Because even if Patrick Murphy and I may not see eye-to-eye on every issue, I would choose him easily over a man with a long history of domestic-abuse accusations and an overall vile attitude towards women.
When the POLITICO story regarding Grayson’s alleged abuse made headlines last Tuesday, I was disgusted by what I read. I was furthermore disgusted by the way Grayson responded when asked by a reporter about the alleged allegations. (Generally, when you’re being accused of physical violence, the best response is not to physically bully the reporter asking you about said allegations.)
I was disgusted by the alleged abuse by Alan Grayson, but I honestly cannot say I was completely taken by surprise. Alan Grayson’s disrespectful attitude towards women is not a new story, and has been a smear on his progressive record for some time. For starters, there was the time he called a female lobbyist a whore in a radio interview. As a young woman who hopes to work in politics one day, I’m not inclined to feel a lot of enthusiasm for a man who resorts to calling women sexist insults when they disagree with him. Then there was the time he called his ex-wife a gold digger. This would be questionable enough as a leaked piece of audio or text message, but the worst part is that Rep. Grayson said this publicly during a television interview, as if he thinks casual sexism somehow adds to his tell-it-like-it-is persona. Recently, Grayson also got into a heated argument with MSNBC anchor Joy Reid, where he became combative and basically accused Reid of being a liar after she had the audacity to ask him a tough question. I think it is hard enough to be a woman of color in TV journalism (see: Melissa Harris-Perry) without a rich, white man calling you a liar for doing your job. Regarding the allegations of domestic abuse, Grayson’s campaign manager has accused Patrick Murphy of “exploiting this very personal family struggle for his own political gain.” He also stated that “Alan Grayson, like all of us, is a flawed individual.” Now I can't speak for all voters, but I’m on the same side as the law, which says that domestic abuse is a crime and an act of violence against women, not a “personal family struggle,” and that men who hit women are abusers, not “flawed individuals.”
There are certainly other very important reasons that I would not ever be likely to vote for Alan Grayson, but at the top of my list is the fact that I do not want to see another man who disrespects and bullies women be given political power. I’ve had my fill of that from Donald Trump. I won’t always agree with Patrick Murphy, but I can at least be consoled by the fact that he hasn’t shown the need to use sexist name-calling and physical bullying of women to get what he wants. When all is said and done, I’ll take a senator with decency over a senator with guts any day.