PANAMA CITY — U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland and challenger Gwen Graham kicked off grass-roots campaigns Saturday with calls for help in one of the most hotly contested congressional races in the country this year.
The Women for Southerland Coalition turned out in the morning with about 100 people for a brunch on the roof of the Gulf Coast State College Advanced Technology Center.
Graham and about 60 supporters celebrated the opening of her Panama City campaign headquarters on Jenks Avenue in the afternoon.
“We’re going to need all of your support to elect Gwen to Congress and bring an independent voice back to north Florida,” said Julia Woodward, Graham’s campaign manager.
Graham and Southerland brought friends to sound a call to action.
Former Congressman J.R. Middlemas described Graham, who has never run for political office, as smart, poised and compassionate, with a knack for building consensus.
Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., said Southerland was a family man and an advocate who supports women, and will help the middle class by opposing industry regulations that will force energy and food producers to pass on their additional costs to consumers.
Graham spoke out against tax breaks for the wealthy at the expense of the middle class, and courted women with her support for equal pay for equal work.
“First and foremost, we need to get our financial house in order,” she said.
Graham’s remarks were brief and general, Southerland and Noem, on the other hand, spent more than hour detailing how people can support Southerland, including organized letter-writing and social media campaigns.
Southerland said his opponents are organized and already are campaigning against him in both areas.
“If you go to my Facebook page they are beating the tar out of me,” Southerland said. “It would be nice to have some friends.”
Southerland played up his everyman appeal and painted Graham as an outsider.
National Democratic groups see him as vulnerable, which Southerland has embraced.
“If you’re not taking flack you’re not over the target,” Southerland said. “We’re over the target.”
He said he expects to spend $2.5 million on this campaign—compared to $1.8 million in 2012 — to fend off attacks from outside groups who hope to “destroy the Steve Southerland you know.”
“This district will see the darnedest congressional race ever seen,” he predicted.
Southerland and Graham stressed the importance of Bay County to their success in the November.
Graham is the daughter of Bob Graham, the former governor and senator. Although she is a Democrat, she said she is a moderate who would eschew partisanship in favor of reasonable solutions. She recalled childhood days spent playing with Middlemas’ children in Bay County and spoke of her family’s roots in north Florida.
She said she was not recruited to run for Southerland’s seat, and she dinged him as an insider in a dysfunctional Congress whose support of the government shutdown was disastrous.
“This is Graham country. It is,” Graham said. “It’s Graham country. It’s the part of Florida that knows my family, that knows what we stand for.”