The ex-wife of Rep. Alan Grayson went to police with accusations that he abused her,
according to documents she provided to Politico.
Lolita Grayson said that during the couple's 25-year marriage, he threatened to kill her. She said she sought medical attention twice, and called police on Alan Grayson twice in Virginia and twice in Florida.
The Florida Democrat is in his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives — he is competing against Rep. Patrick Murphy to be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, aiming to replace Republican Marco Rubio in that position.
The couple were married for 25 years until an annulment in 2015. During the divorce proceedings, the congressman claimed that Lolita Grayson hit him numerous times and set one of their cars on fire in 1993.
Alan Grayson has since remarried, and his
wife is running for the representative seat that he is vacating.
The Politico report mentions numerous other incidents between the two. Several incidents ended with no reports being filed. In one incident, police appeared to question Alan Grayson's claim that he had been battered.
"Lolita is a disturbed woman. She has made one false allegation after another," said Mark NeJame, Alan Grayson's lawyer, in a statement issued on his behalf.
The couple's oldest child, Skye Grayson, backs up his father's claims.
"My mother has always struggled with emotional issues. She physically lashed out at me, my siblings and our father, and then blamed us for it, victimizing us," Skye Grayson told Politico.
The Graysons' marriage was annulled after a judge found out Lolita Grayson was not divorced from her previous husband. She claimed that she was single when they met, but records showed she had not divorced a husband she married in Guam in 1980.
Mother Jones reported that the congressman threatened a Politico journalist after the journalist questioned him about the domestic abuse allegations.