Congressman Bill Posey on upcoming retirement: 'I just want to finish strong'

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 their original birth certificate: "The eligiblity of the president didn't start with Obama. It's happened other times in our history ... Chester A. Arthur, for example, the 21st president, was born in Canada, history pretty clearly shows .... But yes, it just got ignored, and it went away. It just got so controversial. I said, "OK. It's done. It's resolved. He's president. Let's make sure this does not ever happen again.'" (The claim that Arthur was born in Quebec, Canada, near the Vermont border, rather than in Vermont, was never proven, according to sources including the National Constitution Center.)

The most pressing issue facing Congress at this time: "The allowed invasion at our southern border, that will overwhelm our welfare system and poses a threat to our national security."

The country's mood this presidential election year: "Last time, both guys promised to bring the country together. We're farther apart now than we've ever been. I would hope that deep division could heal; that we can find common ground. I founded the National Estuary Caucus with Suzanne Bonimici (U.S. representative for Oregon's 1st congressional district and a Democrat). You can't find anybody as totally opposite me in every single category. She's a progressive from the Northwest. But we found common ground on lagoons ... we stopped estuary funding from being zeroed out; we've passed program for grants for critical needs. My point is, if you look at some of the stuff I've sponsored, some of the conservatives have criticized me: 'How can he sponsor stuff with Frederica Wilson? How can he sponsor stuff with Debbie Wasserman Schultz? How can he sponsor stuff with this one and that one?' You try hard to find that common ground. And that's how you get stuff accomplished. You know, you just have to be more pragmatic."

Moments to remember: "There's an old saying that sometimes the roller coaster moves so fast, you can't enjoy the ride. And just about my entire congressional experience has been like drinking water from a firehose, there's so much that goes on all the time. The people I met ... Netanyahu. Ariel Sharon. Spending a weekend at Camp David: Who would've thought that little Bill Posey from Rockledge would ever spend a minute at Camp David?"

What happens to the money left in his campaign fund ($579,340, including money rolled over from previous campaigns, as of May 6): "It will go legally to make sure we maintain the majority of Republicans in the House."

If he'd support another candidate should Haridopolos not win the nomination: "Probably."

What comes next: "I have my first great-granddaughter. She's in California — I plan on seeing her more. We scheduled for months to go see her when she was born. We knew when my grandddaughter's delivery date was, so we scheduled to get there; we left a couple days buffer to be there, see her, because we had a week that we were going to be back in the district. We bought our tickets; made all our accomodations. And we got called back (to D.C.). Just before we left, they told us we had to come back in three days for votes. So instead of spending a week with my new great-granddaughter ... that's the kind of stuff that's just crazy."

What he'd like to accomplish in these last months in office: "I just want to finish strong. I want to have the same enthusiasm that last day that I had the first day."

Britt Kennerly is education/breaking news editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Kennerly at 321-917-4744 or [email protected]. Twitter: @bybrittkennerly Facebook: /bybrittkennerly

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Rep. Posey on Congress, national mood, border as he nears retirement