Alan Grayson will return to Congress.
Grayson defeated Todd Long in a heated, at times downright nasty battle for the new Congressional district, House District 9.
Grayson, the democrat and former congressman who lost his seat to Rep. Dan Webster in 2010, watched the results from Salsa Latina in Kissimmee tonight.
Long, who has previous attempts to run for the US House, is watching the returns from Tommy Addison's in Orlando.
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Candidate Blogs: Alan Grayson | Todd Long
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It's been apparent since before Long won the Republican primary back in August that he was not a fan of Grayson. In a Washington Times article he called Grayson "a fraud, tax cheat... This man is not fit for Congress and is not fit to practice law."
While Grayson was just as aggressive in his attacks, he is known for running a no-holds-barred political attack campaign.
No where was that more apparent than the Tiger Bay Club debate back in September. The bickering started right off the top. Grayson constantly interrupted Long. At one point Long even told Grayson to shut up. And at the end, none of them could find one thing that they respected about each other.
The race was so ugly, the Orlando Sentinel refused to endorse either candidate, saying neither offered any leadership or statesmanship qualities.
District 9 consists of the following areas:
- All of Osceola County
- Part of east Orlando and east Orange County, including Lake Nona and Orlando International Airport
- Part of eastern Polk County, including Haines City and the Davenport city limits.
- IN DEPTH: Redistricting Info & Maps
Hispanics make up 40 percent of the redrawn district.