Tea Party members love to talk about how American revolutionaries tossed chests filled with tea into the Boston Harbor. FAMU alumnus Alfred “Al” Lawson is ready to toss the Tea Party out of the Second Congressional District of Florida.Lawson has entered the race for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House seat. If victorious, he will face Tea Partier Steve Southerland-R in the 2012 general election.
“[Southerland] seems to be more concerned about the tea party than concerned about his district where you have high unemployment, and people need somebody to fight for them in Congress,” Lawson told the Palm Beach Post. “I have a 28-year history of doing that and it’s something the people need. I just need to retire him.”
Back in 2010, Lawson came up short in a narrow race to unseat 14-year incumbent Allen Boyd-D. Despite being outspent nearly 20-1, Lawson came within 2,000 votes of Boyd. Boyd went on to loss the seat to Southerland.
The new district map proposed by the Florida Legislature could give Lawson an edge. Its lines would be much more similar to the Sixth Florida Senate District that he represented from 2000 to 2010. The new district is slated to include all of Leon County, which overwhelmingly votes Democratic. It would no longer include Okaloosa, Walton, Dixie, Lafayette, or Suwannee Counties. Those counties tend to prefer Republican candidates and comprised a key support base for Southerland.