Congressman Patrick Murphy took his campaign for the U.S. Senate to the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club today. There, he shared moderate, mainstream Democratic views on most of the issues.
Unlike his opponent in the Democratic primary, Congressman Alan Grayson, Murphy paints himself with a centrist tint. He told the audience at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club he wants to "find the middle ground," and said despite partisan gridlock, he's helped get a few things done in Congress.
"But the truth is, there's quite a few issues that we're not making progress on," he said. "And the House, right now, is playing small ball. There's no vision. There's no more foresight. And I've decided to run for the U.S. Senate because I think I can make an even bigger difference on the issues I care about, and the issues we all care about."
Those issues, he said, include affordable education, improving the nation's roads and infrastructure, and trying to rein in the flow of huge amounts of money into political campaigns.
"A big part of why I'm in this is to change the rules," he said. "I'm on every single piece of legislation to overturn Citizen's United. And I will continue to fight to overturn Citizen's United, because we have to. I would also argue that we've got to do something with the hard money piece of politics, the amount of time that elected officials and candidates spend raising money - not focused on the issues."
Murphy, who is based in Stuart, faces Orlando-area Congressman Grayson and Palm Beach County attorney Pam Keith. The winner of the August Democratic primary will face one of five Republicans also vying to replace Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate.
