Southwest Florida is GOP country, with Republicans holding many county and state elected offices.
That's not stopping Lee County Democrats. They gathered for their annual winter gala in Ft. Myers Saturday night.
Congressman Alan Grayson (D-Orlando) was the keynote speaker. He reiterated the party's commitment to raising wages, improving health care and benefits.
The conversation turned to the Iowa caucuses. Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton hold narrow leads with just hours until voters caucus.
Trump made headlines this week by skipping the last GOP debate before the primary, because he accused the moderator, Fox News Host Megyn Kelly of being biased.
"It is true that we tend to devolve into personalities a lot. When we talk about Trump, he actually invites that, he wants to make it some sort of personality contest," said Grayson.
As for Clinton, she faced more criticism for using a personal email account while Secretary of State. The State Department said last week 22 of those emails will remain classified.
Grayson says the issue is being over blown.
"It's just another weapon of mass distraction that we see deployed from time to time by the Republicans, we saw that with Bengazi as well."
Democrats believe either Clinton, or fellow Democratic Challenger Senator Bernie Sanders could beat Trump if he wins the GOP nomination.
"The game has not played yet, so once people have voted, then we will know what the impact of Donald Trump will be, but if he becomes the eventual nominee, I think we have a good shot against him," said the Chairman of the Lee County Democrats Yoseph Tedros.
Rep. Grayson has political aspirations of his own. He's seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. He'll face fellow Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-Jupiter), Lateresa Jones and Pam Keith in the August 30th primary.
The winner will face the Republican nominee, which will be either Rep. David Jolly, (R-Indian Shores), Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Ponte Vedra Beach), or Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera.
The seat is being vacated by Senator Marco Rubio who is seeking the Republican nomination for president
