North Florida’s new congresswoman elect is planning her strategy for her new job. Democrat Gwen Graham says she knows she’s got her work cut out for her. Graham is heading to congress along with a wave of Republican lawmakers voters put into office Tuesday. But she says she’s up for the challenge.
“And, I’m the kind of person that I continue to reach out to folks and build bridges that need to be built at this point,” Graham says. “So I will try hard to make sure that this gridlock and dysfunction that we have found, that I can be at least one voice in changing that.”
Graham says she has already reached out to Florida’s first and third district congressmen, both Republicans. She’s hoping to meet with them and talk Florida strategy before heading to Washington DC.
Some have gone so far as to call the midterm elections a “devastating” night for Democrats. Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate and replaced several Democrats in the House. But that’s not the case in North Florida where Graham ousted Republican incumbent Steve Southerland for Florida’s second congressional district.
“I have felt since day one that we were going to win this race. I never took anything for granted,” Graham says. “I know that It was going to be a race that we had to make every day count and we did that.”
Graham says she won’t be taking anything for granted in Washington DC either. She says she knows she’ll be just one voice, but says she intends to make that voice loud.
