Gwen Graham
opened her campaign headquarters in Orlando on Saturday — noting the importance of Central Florida in this year’s election.
Gwen Graham opened her Orlando campaign headquarters Saturday by stressing the importance of Central Florida to this year’s election for governor — but added her campaign would not overlook the seemingly less Democratic parts of the state.
“We must do well, right here in the middle of the state, right here in the I-4 corridor,” Graham told supporters. “But we also can’t write off north of Orlando. We’ve got to do well in all 67 counties. And we can do it.”
Graham, a former U.S. representative from Tallahassee, is the second Democratic candidate for governor to base her campaign in Orlando after Winter Park businessman Chris King, who opened his office last month just a block away on East Colonial Drive.
The daughter of former U.S. Sen. and Gov. Bob Graham has been living in Orlando for more than a month, she said, and when she arrived at the office she emotionally embraced her husband, Steve Hurm, who had come down from Tallahassee where he works at Florida State University.
“I will tell you, he feels like I have been deployed,” Graham joked. “I have not seen him in five weeks.”
Graham stressed “how much it means to me to be here in Orlando. I recognize we are the center of a state that has the opportunity to elect great people up and down the ballot. Everywhere I go, I feel this level of energy, and this level of excitement.”
She also gave a shout-out to state House District 47 candidate Anna Eskamani, who helped introduce her.
“I’m so excited to officially be a resident of Anna’s district,” Graham said.
“I’m excited to welcome Graham to Orlando,” Eskamani said earlier. “Chris King is just down the road, and it really does show how important the area is. It really reflects how Orlando is the center of the political universe.”
Graham is running against King, a Winter Park businessman, as well as Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine in the Aug. 28 Democratic primary. With Gov. Rick Scott term-limited and running for U.S. Senate, the Republican race features state Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Palm Coast.
Graham also was introduced by state Rep. Amy Mercado and state Sen. Linda Stewart, both Orlando Democrats.
“I am going to do everything in my power to make sure this woman right here is my next governor,” Mercado said. “She speaks for me. … She is one of the few who has stepped up from the very beginning to say, ‘I am here, what do I need to do, where do you need me, how can I help.’ That goes a long, long way.”
Stewart said “the time has long since passed for women to have their fiercest champions at the table.”
And she added, “there are enough portraits of men hanging in the governor’s mansion.”
Alison Holmes of Longwood, who was there with her 14-year-old son J.J., who has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, said she is backing Graham because of her pledge to support public schools.
“There have been a lot of cuts, and a lot of fights to get him the right services,” Holmes said. “Especially after all the cuts put in by [Gov.] Rick Scott, all the money going into charter schools.”
Graham closed by pointing out Jose Serrano, who came to Orlando with his wife, Mara, and daughter Mina from Puerto Rico seven months ago after Hurricane Maria. Serrano was Graham’s Uber driver on Wednesday.
“At the end of our drive, I gave Jose a hug and said, ‘Jose, I’m running for governor,’ ” Graham said. “‘And I’m running for you, and [Mara], and your daughter Mina.’ Because I want those who have moved here to have the same welcome, the same support, all that Florida can give to you and your wonderful family.”
“And as governor, it’s not just words, but my commitment to those who have moved here from the island of Puerto Rico and elsewhere to provide a Florida that will support you in your new life here,” she said.