Florida Republican Bill Posey Announces House Retirement
Posey withdrew from re-election on the final day of qualifying for the primary.
At noon today, filing closed for candidates to appear on the Florida primary ballot later this year. After the deadline, Representative Bill Posey, a Republican, announced he was withdrawing his candidacy to continue serving the state’s 8th Congressional District. The timing of his announcement basically ensures his chosen successor - former State Senate President Mike Haridopolos - will be on the glide path to Congress without first having to go through a contested Republican primary.
Posey, 76, is the 46th retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives for the 2024 cycle - 25 Democrats and 21 Republicans. Notably, he is the only member of Florida’s congressional delegation not to seek re-election this year.
Posey has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since January 2009. Florida’s 8th Congressional District covers the Space Coast east of Orlando - taking in all of Brevard and Indian River Counties as well as part of Orange County. Cities in the district include Titusville, Melbourne, Cocoa and Cape Canaveral.
Posey’s professional career began by following in his father’s footsteps with a job at McDonnell Douglas - where he notably did Apollo Space Program work at the Kennedy Space Center until he was laid off. He later founded a real estate company in the 1970s and then became Director of the state Association of Realtors. Posey entered electoral politics by representing District 32 of the Florida House of Representatives from November 1992 to November 2000 and District 24 of the Florida State Senate from November 2000 to November 2008.
Term-limited from returning to the State Senate, Posey entered the Republican primary for Florida’s 15th Congressional District in 2008 to succeed retiring U.S. Representative Dave Weldon. A fellow Republican, Weldon held the seat since flipping it in the 1994 general election. That fall, Posey prevailed 53.1-42.0 against Democrat Steve Blythe. Posey was always easily re-elected to the district - which was re-numbered as the 8th following redistricting in 2011. In 2022, he was re-elected for his now final term with a 64.9-35.0 victory against Democrat Joanne Terry.
For the 118th Congress, Posey serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Furthermore, he is a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.
Haridopolos is one of four candidates competing in the Republican primary for the 8th District. However, he is the only one who has previously held elected office. He served District 30 in the Florida House of Representatives from November 2000 to March 2003 and District 26 in the Florida State Senate from March 2003 to November 2012. He was the President of the upper legislative chamber from November 2010 to November 2012.
In 2011, Haridopolos launched a campaign for the Republican nomination to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate. After six months in the race, he withdrew despite raising more money than the rest of the primary field. U.S. Representative Connie Mack IV ultimately won the Republican primary. However, incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson was re-elected to his third and final term with a 55.2-42.2 victory.
Meanwhile, West Melbourne City Councilor Dan McDow is the only candidate to file in the Democratic primary for Florida’s 8th Congressional District. Despite launching his campaign in June 2023, he hasn’t raised a significant amount of money to date. However, Florida Democrats have fielded candidates in all 28 congressional districts in 2024.
Under the current lines, Donald Trump won Florida’s 8th Congressional District with a 58.3-40.6 finish against Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. That came as Trump was carrying the state 51.22-47.86 in his ultimately unsuccessful national campaign.