Gwen Graham wants to follow in her father's footsteps and move into the governor's mansion in Tallahassee. So she's copying Bob Graham's "work days," and served up Cuban sandwiches Thursday in Tampa.
Gwen Graham helped bake bread and then hustled at the counter at Ybor City's iconic La Segunda bakery. It's all part of her getting to know the communities she wants to represent as governor. Graham, a former congresswoman from North Florida, acknowledged no Democrat has won that office since Lawton Chiles in 1994.
"I happen to be from North Florida, where I won an election in 2014 in a Republican district where no one gave me a chance, and guess what - we won," she said. "And we will win this gubernatorial election."
During her visit, Graham took Gov. Rick Scott to task for backtracking this week on his campaign promise to give every teacher a $2,500 pay raise. She said he needs to put it in his budget.
"He should know that the responsibility lies - for funding, it lies with the Florida Legislature," she said. "They need to fund adequately every single school system in this state, so that then the school districts can divide the resources that they're provided to make sure that they're able to pay teachers adequately."
Graham will be one of the keynote speakers this weekend at the Florida Democratic Party conventionin Orlando.
