Richard Grayson
Green | Arizona
Candidate Profile
Unclassifiable
BIOGRAPHY
EDUCATION
Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY, B.A., Political Science, 1969-1973
College of Staten Island, CUNY, Staten Island, NY, M.A., English, 1973-1975
Brooklyn College, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY, M.F.A., Creative Writing, 1974-1976
University of Florida Levin College of Law, Gainesville, FL, J.D. (Juris Doctor), 1991-1994
WORK & MILITARY
Long Island University, Adjunct Lecturer, English, 1975-1978
City University of New York (Kingsborough Community College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Brooklyn College, City College of New York, Baruch College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Hunter College, New York City Technical College), Adjunct Lecturer, English/Continuing Education/Speech/SEEK, 1978-2012
The School of Visual Arts, Instructor, Humanities, 1979-2012
Broward College, Instructor, English, 1981-1991
Center for Govermental Responsibility, University of Florida, Staff Attorney in Social Policy, 1990-1997
Nova Southeastern University, Associate/Acting Director of Law School Student Services; Director of Law School Acadamic Resources; Adjunct Lecturer, Business & Liberal Arts; Visiting Professor of Undergraduate Legal Studies, 1992-2005
Arizona State University, Faculty Associate, English, 2000-2015
Central Arizona College, Assistant Librarian, 2016-2026
Nova Southeastern University, College of Undergraduate Studies, Visiting Professor, Legal Studies and Liberal Arts, 1997-1999
Hollywood Sun-Tattler, Newspaper Columnist, 1987-1989
AFFILIATIONS
Candidate did not provide
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Candidate did not provide
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
Vice President of U.S., 1979-1980
President of U.S., 1979-1980
Town Council, Davie, Florida, 1982-1982
U.S. Represenative from Florida, Arizona, Wyoming and Alaska, 1994-2024
SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS
LIBERAL
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (4)
Adrian Fontes (2026)
ActBlue (2024)
Josh Stein (2024)
Andrew Gillum (2018)
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (1)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (2010)
OTHER INFORMATION
Warning: Website may contain objectionable content.
Candidate's YouTube link.
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Richard Grayson completed Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey.
Richard Grayson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022.
In his 2022 Arizona campaign candidate received an "F" rating from Gun Owners of America.
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive taxpayer funds from federal, state, or local governments (including Title X grants).
Did not answer
Under what circumstances should an elective abortion be allowed?
Any and all. We need to encourage those who want to get abortions to get them as soon as possible.
Human life deserves legal protection from conception until natural death.
Strongly Disagree
I support free abortion on demand for all women and transgender men.
The lives of human embryos created through artificial methods ought to be protected from purposeful destruction.
Strongly Disagree
I have personally destroyed embryos, so it would be hypocritical of me to prevent any embryos from being destroyed. Most of them probably need to be destroyed.
The Comstock Act, which bans interstate transportation of abortion-inducing drugs, should be enforced.
Strongly Disagree
Comstock was a worthless piece of trash and so is his antiquated, evil law , which is supported only by trashy subhumans.
ECONOMY
What is your position on the minimum wage?
Did not answer
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Disagree
Communism is the way to go! Please see my Anchorage Daily News column, "Alaska would thrive under communism": https://www.adn.com/opinions/2026/01/31/opinion-alaska-would-thrive-under-communism/
List your top 3-5 priorities to eliminate government waste.
Trillions spent on the Department of Defense and enless foreign interventions. Massive state handouts to finance capital, bail out failing banks, and subsidize multi-national corporations. Lavish funding for policing, mass incarceration, and border militarization. Billions distributed globally to prop up U.S. geopolitical interests, enforce hegemony, and secure foreign markets. Trillions spent subsidizing private health insurance companies and for-profit pharmaceutical corporations.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
What does "separation of church and state" mean to you?
The state must be neutral among all religions and between religion and non-religion. There should be no prayer in public schools, Ten Commandments displays in courthouses, a national motto of "In God We Trust," or faith-based government funding without strict secular oversight. There should be no tax exemptions for churches, especially when those institutions engage in political activity. We mustprotect citizens from having someone else's religion imposed on them through law. I hate religion.
Individuals and businesses should be required to provide services even if it would violate their moral and/or religious beliefs.
Agree
It depends. Compelled speech and compelled service — particularly for creative professionals — raises genuine First Amendment concerns, and true pluralism means tolerating differences in belief even when we disagree. But otherwise allowing individuals or businesses to refuse service based on their religious or moral beliefs creates a dangerous loophole that effectively legalizes discrimination. When a business opens its doors to the public, it enters a social contract to serve the public.
HEALTHCARE
What most closely matches your view on healthcare: A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) B) Healthcare insurance funded by the government should be available for all who want it, along with private healthcare options. C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. D) Taxpayer funded health care should be abolished in all forms, and Medicaid and Medicare should be defunded.
A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) Healthcare is a human right. No one should go broke getting sick. Profit has no place in medicine. Remove the middleman — insurers add cost, not care. Private insurance rations care by wealth. One risk pool creates maximum efficiency. Healthy people create a stronger economy and workforce. Let's become civilized!
The government should keep a database of people with various ongoing medical illnesses to assess the economic burden of treatment.
Strongly Disagree
Medical records are among the most sensitive personal data that exists; government surveillance of illness is a serious civil liberties violation. A database of "costly" sick people could be used to deny employment, housing, or yes, healthcare itself. People are not line items, and measuring human beings by their cost to the system echoes eugenicist thinking. Governments cataloguing people by health status has a deeply disturbing historical precedent (Nazi Germany being the most extreme example)
NATIONAL SECURITY
The Chinese Communist Party poses serious military, cyber security, intellectual property, and global economic threats to the United States.
Strongly Agree
As a socialist, I know how the evil Chinese Communist government works. The CCP is actually "state capitalist." I strongly oppose the CCP's political repression, censorship, surveillance, and restrictions on independent labor organizing. We don't want that in the U.S. China's military buildup, especially regarding Taiwan and the South China Sea, increases the risk of war. Chinese state-linked actors have engaged in cyber espionage, hacking, and technology acquisition efforts. Death to the CCP!
Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?
In my Hebrew school in Brooklyn in the 1950s, I was told that Israel was "a land without a people for a people without a land." As a 9-year-old, I envisioned that there was nobody living there before Jews came to create Israel. Of course, I eventually realized this was not true., and I went from being a strong Zionist to a non-Zionist and now, after, the Gaza war, I am anti-Zionist. But obviously the U.S. relationship with Israel is important: it's why we're in a stupid, illegal war with Iran.
IMMIGRATION
I support the existence of sanctuary cities to protect undocumented persons.
Strongly Agree
Sanctuary cities are the best places to live in this country for everyone.
EDUCATION
I support eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and giving control back to states and communities.
Strongly Disagree
Closing the department risks reducing support for disadvantaged students, weakening civil-rights protections, and increasing inequalities among states and school districts.
Foreign governments should be prohibited from funding American education.
Neutral
Foreign governments should not be allowed to use funding to influence American education or academic freedom. Foreign government funding of American educational institutions should be fully disclosed, closely monitored, and prohibited when it creates undue influence or compromises academic independence
VALUES
Government should recognize and support the fundamental right and essential duty of parents to direct their child's health and educational well-being.
Did not answer
Attempts to physically or socially transition a child to the opposite sex constitute child abuse.
Strongly Disagree
I'm an LGBTQIA+ activist and strongly support transgender kids. I have written on this subject. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/124/article/478009/pdf
Marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition.
Disagree
This is just a stupid statement only believed by subhuman filth.
I support the expansion of gambling in my state.
Did not answer
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
None.
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Strongly Agree
EQUALITY
Reparations should be given to people on the basis of race.
Did not answer
Biological males should not be allowed to participate in women's sports or occupy biological women's spaces whether it be bathrooms, locker rooms, sorority houses, women's shelters, or prison.
Strongly Disagree
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Man-made climate change is a global threat and requires urgent political action.
Did not answer
What do you believe is the most reliable energy source that will supply the growing demand for electricity?
The human brain.
ABOUT YOU
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?
Very Liberal
I am the most liberal person you will ever know.
Have you ever been penalized for sexual misconduct in either civil or criminal court? If so, please explain.
No
Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, please explain.
No
CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY
What should be the goal of the criminal justice system?
Did not answer
Government has a responsibility to protect children from sexual exploitation during online activities.
Strongly Agree
We must kill the tech billionaires who allow kids to be sexually exploited online!
Sharia law should not be accepted or incorporated in any form within the legal framework of the United States.
Did not answer
2ND AMENDMENT
What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?
I favor the repeal of the Second Amendment.
