The first Democrat who also counts himself a member of the tea-party movement is announcing his candidacy Friday to serve Florida’s 11th congressional district in Congress.

David A. Patten at Newsmax writes:

Tea Party leaders have been insisting all along they’re not in the tank for the GOP, and now they’ll have a chance to prove it: The first Democrat who also counts himself a member of the tea-party movement is announcing his candidacy Friday to serve Florida’s 11th congressional district in Congress.

It is believed to mark the first time that a Democrat, who is also a member of the grassroots movement that has made its growing presence known for over a year now, has stepped forward to run for national office.

Newsmax reached Democrat Tim Curtis, 52, for an interview Thursday while he was on the other line with the IRS, trying to obtain the taxpayer ID number he needs to open up an account for his campaign. Curtis confirmed he will be challenging incumbent Democrat Kathy Castor, a strong supporter of healthcare reform, in the Democratic primary.

A member of both the Tampa Tea Party and the 9-12 Project organizations, Curtis expects serious opposition from entrenched elements of the Democratic base. But he maintains voters will look at him and evaluate his candidacy as an individual, rather than in the context of political stereotypes.

“I’m not running as a member of a tea party group,” Curtis told Newsmax in the exclusive interview “I’m running as a Democrat, I’m running as a constitutional Democrat. What I see is a shredding of the Constitution. And it’s been done by Republicans and it’s being done by Democrats now. I’m just not going to stand by idly any longer and watch it happen.”

Curtis’ background is an intriguing amalgam of political influences that crisscross political boundaries – something of a rarity in a political environment that is increasingly characterized by a wide partisan divide.

Born in Pennsylvania, his family moved to Florida when he was about 5. He attended and graduated high school in the southwest Florida area, joined the Marine Corps, and served in the U.S. military “for 20 years and 2 days.” He retired from military service as a chief warrant officer in 1995 and returned to the Tampa Bay, Fla., area where he grew up.

For the last 11 years, Curtis has been a small business owner, operating a UPS store and venturing into the mortgage business. He prefers to call himself a “constitutional democrat” rather than a tea partyer, and says what finally drove him off the sidelines and into the political playing field was a healthcare-reform process that in his view ran roughshod over the U.S. Constitution.

“I’d hoped there would be enough representation in Washington to uphold the Constitution,” Curtis tells Newsmax. “And Sunday evening showed me that’s not the case.”

Curtis says the healthcare reforms pushed through by Castor and other Democrats actually exacerbate the nation’s healthcare problems.

FULL STORY

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