SEBASTIAN — Sebastian City Councilman Richard Gillmor has filed without a party affiliation to run for U.S. Congress, hoping to continue to serve Sebastian and Indian River County in Washington, D.C. The Dist. 15 seat is currently held by Republican Rep. Bill Posey, who has yet to file for re-election.
The election will be held Nov. 6.
“I’ve been toying with the idea for quite some time,” Gillmor said Monday morning. He said he is not a career politician, having only gotten involved in government since his retirement.
“I feel I’m pretty good at what I do,” he said.
Gillmor, 64, has lived in Sebastian since August 2004 and was first elected to the Sebastian City Council in 2008.
State law allows him to continue serving his two-year term on the Sebastian Council while he campaigns for the federal office. His term on the council ends this year.
Instead of seeking re-election, Gillmor will be out seeking 2,298 qualified signatures to get his name on the November ballot.
He said he has a current core of about a half dozen people who will help get signatures.
Gillmor said it is time for a third party to get into Congress and help balance and monitor both the Republicans and Democrats.
“They can’t seem to get their work done,” Gillmor said, adding that current public approval of Congress sits at a paltry 9 percent.
Gillmor, who describes himself as a conservative, said he always votes for the best candidate – not for a particular party.
He said his strategy for winning the Congressional seat would be to attract the Independents and those with no party affiliation to his cause.
“Everybody’s welcome,” Gillmor said.
He has already made his first campaign promise – if elected, he would seek to serve no more than two terms, a total of four years.
Gillmor said that when the Congress was first formed, Congressional leaders were paid $6 a day and only on those days they were there.
“This was not meant to be a career,” he said, noting that it has since morphed into a career for many, which, in his opinion, has damaged the process.
Gillmor said it is time for the federal government to do as local and state governments are doing, staying within its means.
“We have to live within our budgets,” he said.
Gillmor currently serves as the Dist. 9 representative on the Board of Directors for the Florida League of Cities as well as Chairman of the Treasure Coast Council of Local Governments. He is also the president of the Sebastian River Art Club.
He has been married to his wife, Judy, for 43 years and has two grown daughters, Elizabeth and Susan, who live in Sebastian and Connecticut, respectively.
