Mark Bircher is a retired

Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...

Reserve brigadier general, commercial pilot (

Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777 is the world's largest twinjet and the most-built wide-body airliner. ...

), lawyer, scholar, and former

Blue Angels The Blue Angels, formally named the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, are a Aerobatics, flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy.. Blue Angels official site. Formed in 1946, the unit is the second oldest formal aerobatics ...

pilot. He was a Republican Party candidate in Florida's 13th congressional district special election, 2014. He was the Republican candidate for the 2016 election in Florida's 13th congressional district. Bircher is a graduate of the

Naval Academy A naval academy provides education for prospective naval officers. List of naval academies See also

* Military academy {{Authority control Naval academies, Naval lists ...

and the Navy Fighter Weapons School (

TOPGUN The United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI program), more popularly known as Top Gun (stylized as TOPGUN), is a United States Navy Military education and training, training program that teaches Air combat manoeuvr ...

). He became a

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

and flew the

A-4 Skyhawk The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company, and later, McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D und ...

and

F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, fighter and attack airc ...

. He was awarded the

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

. He flew with the

for three years. In 2003 he deployed to

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. In 2009 he retired from the

Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Corps Reserve is an expedi ...

as a Brigadier General. Bircher ran as a conservative candidate in the Republican primary in the 2014 special election for

Florida's 13th congressional district Florida's 13th congressional district is an List of United States congressional districts, electoral district for the United States Congress, U.S. Congress on Florida's Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast, assigned to Pinellas County, F ...

. Bircher finished third with 24% of the vote, behind State Representative Kathleen Peters (29%) and lobbyist

David Jolly David Wilson Jolly (born October 31, 1972) is an American politician, attorney, and former lobbyist who served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 13th congressional district from 2014 to 2017 as a Republican. After leaving office, Jolly ...

(45%) who went on to defeat

Alex Sink Adelaide "Alex" Sink (born June 5, 1948) is an American former politician and financier. A member of the Democratic Party, Sink was the Chief Financial Officer for the state of Florida and treasurer on the board of trustees of the Florida State ...

in the March 11, 2014 special election.

Political positions

*Supports a

balanced budget A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budge ...

*Opposes the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

Endorsements

*Combat Veterans For Congress PAC *Former Congressman Allen West *

Republican Liberty Caucus The Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) is a political action organization dedicated to promoting the ideals of Individual freedom, individual liberty, limited government and free market economics within the Republican Party (United States), Republi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bircher, Mark Living people Florida Republicans American commercial aviators Year of birth missing (living people)