Grayson had been considering several options for his potential return to Washington, but he told the Orlando Sentinel he chose the district in Osceola, Orange and Polk counties that he represented for four years, because “that’s where people want me.”

“Our country is facing a crisis,” Grayson said. President Donald Trump “is trampling on our democracy. Voters deserve to have somebody fighting against that.”

The decision kicks off what could be a heated District 9 battle for the Democratic nomination between Grayson, a progressive firebrand who garnered both controversy and a national profile in his six years in Congress. He will face Soto, the first Florida congressman of Puerto Rican descent, who has been an advocate for the community in the wake of Hurricane Maria and the influx of evacuees to Central Florida.