State Rep. David Richardson (D-Miami) faces a crowded primary battle in the race for Florida's 27th Congressional District seat, which U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Miami) is leaving at the end of her current term.
And Democrats think they have a decent shot at capturing the South Florida seat; Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by some 20 points there last November, after all, and 2018 could be a good year for the Party of Not-Trump (but we said that in 2016, so no one really knows).
RIchardson has sought to identify himself as the progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for the seat Republicans are probably going to fight hard to keep.
And that fight is already beginning.
On Thursday, the National Republicans Congressional Committee, an entity that aids Republican candidates for Congress with ads attacking opposition, released a digital ad in several states, including Florida, targeting Democratic candidates for their support of Obamacare and even — gasp! — A EUROPEAN-STYLE SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE PLAN! (The ad uses all-caps here, too.)
"Big health care has destroyed the American health care system as we know it," a deep voiceover booms. "But it gets worse."
The voiceover goes on to suggest that well-known Democrats in the House and Senate are going to force health care on us like they have in Europe, the same health care what killed little Charlie Gard and it'll mean trillions in taxes and total. government. control. over your doctor, health care and prescriptions.
The ad goes through a montage featuring the likes of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and beloved GOP bogeyman, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California), each uttering the words "single payer," which, in light of the GOP's months-long health care shit show, is getting more and more mainstream these days.
In the wake of the NRCC ad, Richardson said he welcomed the single-payer-supporter label.
“Damn right I’m supporting the creation of a single-payer healthcare system," he said in a written statement Thursday night. "The only healthcare plan Republicans have is to throw millions off of their insurance, then lie about people like me who actually do have a plan to expand access to healthcare to more Americans.”
This isn't the first time Richardson has been ahead of the curve.
In 2012, he became the first openly gay person elected to the legislature (if 2012 seems a little late for such milestones, just remember this is Florida). As a lawmaker, the retired forensic auditor has earned a reputation for tirelessly investigating "financial records, policies and allegations of abuse in the state’s troubled corrections system," the Miami Herald wrote in June, when he first announced his run.
If elected, he would be the first openly gay member of Florida's Congressional Delegation (if you don't count Mark Foley, the disgraced former Republican Congressman whose sexuality was made public only after it was revealed he was creeping out on 16-year-old male Congressional pages).
This article appears in Aug 3-10, 2017.