As Election 2024 edged closer, U.S. Rep. Bill Posey’s recent polling, he said, “was the best we’d ever had.”
The eight-term Republican congressman from Rockledge had hundreds of thousands of dollars in his campaign coffers and had filed to run again for the seat from District 8, which covers all of Brevard and Indian River counties, as well as parts of eastern Orange County.
But on April 26, Posey, 76, announced his retirement after this term, and that he would support former Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos — who had announced his bid for the seat earlier that day — saying that “stars aligned during the past week and Mike decided he was ready for Congress. I enthusiastically endorse him and will do everything I can to help him get elected.”
In an hourlong conversation with FLORIDA TODAY, Posey recalled highlights and battles, from the time he was elected to Rockledge City Council in 1976 to his years in Tallahassee, first as a representative elected in 1992 and then as a state senator from 2001 to 2009. He has represented Florida’s 8th District since 2008.
“At every level” of government in which he’s served, Posey said, he’s been driven by the same goals, including “making government more transparent and more accountable.” As he states on his website, he’s proud of accomplishments such as introducing legislation that requires all bills voted on by Congress be posted online for 72 hours for the public and members of Congress to read before a vote. Working with the Florida delegation to bring Space Delta 10 to Patrick Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. He spoke of being involved in the stressful but eventually successful quest to bring the kidnapped children of a Merritt Island woman home from Lebanon.
More: Eight-termer Posey won’t seek reelection to Congress. Haridopolos among five seeking seat
On some matters, Posey’s blunt but doesn’t elaborate.
Does he support embattled U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson? Yes, he said without further comment.
What about the timing of the announcement he’d be leaving Congress? It came just after the deadline for qualifying for a ballot spot passed and stated that “earlier this week, circumstances beyond my control now require me to suspend my reelection campaign.” Florida Sen. Debbie Mayfield, R-Indialantic, who cannot seek reelection to the Senate because of term limits, said she talked with Posey about two months ago, and discussed the possibility of running for the District 8 seat in Congress if Posey would not be seeking reelection. She said Posey at the time indicated he was going to run for reelection.
“I’m not going to get into private conversations,” said Posey.
He will depart the House, Posey said, with the full support of Katie, his wife of 57 years. He recalled how she has stood by him from the first time he ran for office to throughout his seven terms in Washington.
“I’ve always said, I’ll leave Washington when she’s ready to leave, anytime … when I was in Tallahassee, she was in Tallahassee,” he said, mentioning the hardships, from separation to divorce, often faced by couples in politics.
“When I’m in Washington, D.C., she’s in Washington, D.C.”
Other takeaways from FLORIDA TODAY’s conversation with Posey:
Katie’s support and guidance: “I roll out of bed every day and know I’m going to make more enemies. She rolls out of bed every day knowing she’s going to make more friends … the truth is, she loves everybody. She’s the most secure woman I’ve ever known in my entire life.”
Getting acclimated to the House: “It took me five years, with the leadership of both parties opposing it, to pass the 72-hour rule. Both parties are in the habit of just throwing down humongous bills in front of people, and the first time they see it is when it gets to the House floor? How crazy was that?”
The never-voted-on, much-maligned legislation he proposed in his first term, when Obama was president, to require future presidential candidates to provide a copy of…
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