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In a tweet tonight, President Donald Trump endorsed Florida’s District 8 Congressman Bill Posey (Republican-Rockledge) for reelection.

Congressman Bill Posey is a tremendous fighter for the Great State of Florida. He is a big supporter of our #MAGA Agenda – Strong on Crime, the Second Amendment, and Loves our Veterans and Law Enforcement. Bill has my Complete and Total Endorsement!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2020

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Posey retweeted the endorsement thank the President. Posey has come a long way with the President since the days of his inauguration. In a report by The Independent, Posey was critical of Trump’s tweets about the crowd size of his inauguration. Reportedly, Trump responded to Posey with “who the f*** are you?”

Yesterday, Scott Caine (Republican-Vero Beach) a retired Air Force Colonel and Fighter Pilot filed and qualified for the Republican Primary as Posey’s opponent. Posey (72 years old) is running for his 7th consecutive term in Congress, and this is the first time he is facing a primary challenger since 2008.

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Caine (58 years old) retired in 2017 after 30 years of service to the United States Air Force. He was an A-10 Warthog Fighter Pilot. In his last year of service, Caine was the oldest and most senior active-duty Air Force pilot current and qualified in the A-10.

After earning an undergraduate engineering degree from Georgia Tech, he earned three master’s degrees: one in management at Troy State University, and another in airpower art and science from the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. His third, in strategic studies, he earned with academic distinction at Maxwell’s Air War College.

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Caine is a sharp contrast to Posey whose education is limited to an associates degree from Brevard Community College over a 5 year period during the Vietnam War. Critics of Posey accuse him of being a draft-dodger during this time; a criticism he shares with the President. He has since been a strong advocate for veterans on the Space Coast. It will be interesting to see how that plays out and who veterans will support at the ballot box now that they have a choice with a career combat veteran verses a career politician.

Whoever comes out of the Republican primary will face Democratic newcomer Jim Kennedy, a space industry engineer that works for United Launch Alliance at the Space Center, and also a Navy Veteran.

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