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Joe Walsh
| Joe Walsh | ||
 | ||
| U.S. House, Illinois, District 8 | ||
| Former member | ||
| In office | ||
| January 3, 2011-January 3, 2013 | ||
| Party | Republican | |
| Elections and appointments | ||
| Last election | November 6, 2012 | |
| First elected | November 2, 2010 | |
| Term limits | N/A | |
| Education | ||
| High school | Barrington High School | |
| Bachelor's | University of Iowa | |
| Master's | University of Chicago | |
| Personal | ||
| Birthday | December 27, 1961 | |
| Place of birth | North Barrington, Illinois | |
| Profession | Fundraiser | |
| Religion | Roman Catholic | |
| Websites | ||
| Office website | ||
| Campaign website | ||
 | ||
Contents |
William Joseph "Joe" Walsh (b. December 27, 1961) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Walsh was elected by voters from Illinois' 8th congressional district. Walsh ran unopposed in the Republican primary on March 20, 2012.[1] He was defeated by Tammy Duckworth (D) in the general election on November 6, 2012.
According to a March 2012 article in Roll Call, Walsh is one of the top 10 most vulnerable incumbents.[2]
Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Walsh is a "rank-and-file Republican".[3]
Biography
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The information about this individual is current as of when his or her last campaign ended. See anything that needs updating? Send a correction to our editors |
Walsh was born and raised in the 8th district, growing up in a family of 9 children.[4] He has a BA in English from the University of Iowa and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. He has taught American government and American history at the community college level for a number of years, at Oakton Community College and the Hebrew Theological College.[4]
Career
Committee assignments
U.S. House of Representatives
2011-2012
Walsh served on the following committees:[5]
- Homeland Security Committee
- Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence
- Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications
- Subcommittee on Transportation Security Vice Chair
- Oversight and Government Reform Committee
- Subcommittee on Health Care, District of Columbia, Census and the National Archives
- Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs
- Small Business Committee
- Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology
- Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access Chair
- Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations
Issues
Campaign themes
According to Walsh's website, his campaign themes included:
- Economy: "If we want our economy to grow and produce jobs again, we must rely on a vibrant private sector to pull us out of the recession."
- Healthcare: "What America needs instead is more health care choice through reform not overhaul."
- Immigration: "It is the responsibility of our government to foster, manage and maintain a secure – and fair – immigration process."[6]
Specific votes
Fiscal Cliff
Walsh voted against the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. He was one of 151 Republicans that voted against the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257/167 vote on January 1, 2013.[7]
Elections
2012
Walsh lost to newcomer Tammy Duckworth.[8] Walsh was running in the 2012 election for the U.S. House, representing Illinois' 8th District. Walsh sought the nomination on the Republican ticket.[9] The signature filing deadline was December 27, 2011, with the primary taking place on March 20, 2012.
Walsh ran unopposed in the Republican primary on March 20, 2012. Tammy Duckworth defeated candidate Raja Krishnamoorthi in the Democratic primary.[1] Walsh was defeated by Duckworth in the general election on November 6, 2012.
An October 2012 article in The Daily named Walsh one of the 20 worst candidates in 2012.[10] He was criticized for comments he made about Duckworth during the campaign, including diminishing her military record. After referring to John McCain as a "noble hero" for not often talking about his service record, he said of Duckworth, “Now I’m running against a woman who, my God, that’s all she talks about.”[11]
| U.S. House, Illinois, District 8 General Election, 2012 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Tammy Duckworth |
54.7% | 123,206 | |
| Republican | Joe Walsh Incumbent | 45.3% | 101,860 | |
| Independent | Robert Gregory Canfield | 0% | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 225,066 | |||
| Source: Illinois Board of Elections "2012 General Election Official Vote Totals" | ||||
2010
On November 2, 2010, Walsh won election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Melissa L. Bean (D) and Bill Scheurer (Green) in the general election.[12]
| U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois' 8th Congressional District, General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Joe Walsh |
48.5% | 98,115 | |
| Democratic | Melissa L. Bean | 48.3% | 97,825 | |
| Green | Bill Scheurer | 3.2% | 6,495 | |
| Total Votes | 202,435 | |||
Polls
| 8th Congressional District Race | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response | "2012 District 8 Poll" September 18-20 | "Illinois 8th Congressional District Poll" October 25-26 | Average | ||||||||||||
| Tammy Duckworth | 52% | 54% | 53% | ||||||||||||
| Joe Walsh | 38% | 40% | 39% | ||||||||||||
| Undecided | 10% | 5% | 7.5% | ||||||||||||
| Number polled | 508 | 500 | 504 | ||||||||||||
| Margin of error | N/A | ||||||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org | |||||||||||||||
Campaign donors
2012
Walsh lost election to the U.S. House in 2012. During that election cycle, Walsh's campaign committee raised a total of $2,011,080 and spent $1,995,015.[13]
| U.S. House, Illinois, District 8, 2012 - Joe Walsh Campaign Contributions | |
|---|---|
| Total Raised | $2,011,080 |
| Total Spent | $1,995,015 |
| Total Raised by Election Winner | $5,309,495 |
| Total Spent by Election Winner | $5,208,691 |
| Top contributors to Joe Walsh's campaign committee | |
| Cancer Treatment Centers of America | $55,335 |
| Performance Trust Capital Partners | $27,500 |
| Freedom Project | $20,000 |
| Honeywell International | $17,633 |
| Northrop Grumman | $16,000 |
| Top 5 industries that contributed to campaign committee | |
| Leadership PACs | $179,882 |
| Securities & Investment | $131,100 |
| Retired | $96,611 |
| Insurance | 94,950 |
| Republican/Conservative | $65,650 |
On October 15, 2012, quarterly reports were submitted by campaigns to the Federal Election Commission. The political blog Daily Kos did an analysis of the fundraising figures and found Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth outraised Republican incumbent Joe Walsh in the third quarter. Duckworth raised $1,508,000 and has $763,000 cash-on-hand to Walsh's $254,000 in fundraising and $592,000 cash-on-hand.[14]
2010
Walsh won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. During that election cycle, Walsh's campaign committee raised a total of $624,694 and spent $602,803.[15]
| U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois' 8th Congressional District, 2010 - Joe Walsh Campaign Contributions | |
|---|---|
| Total Raised | $624,694 |
| Total Spent | $602,803 |
| Total Raised by General Election Opponent | $2,292,879 |
| Total Spent by General Election Opponent | $2,451,348 |
| Top contributors to Joe Walsh's campaign committee | |
| Sage Products | $14,900 |
| Otto Engineering | $14,400 |
| Legg Mason | $10,100 |
| Cancer Treatment Center of America | $9,750 |
| American Greetings Corp | $9,600 |
| Top 5 industries that contributed to campaign committee | |
| Securities & Investment | $51,479 |
| Retired | $49,359 |
| Real Estate | $20,900 |
| Business Services | $19,000 |
| Lawyers/Law Firms | $18,950 |
Analysis
Congressional staff salaries
The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Walsh paid his congressional staff a total of $637,362 in 2011. He ranked 5th on the list of the lowest paid Republican Representative Staff Salaries and he ranked 7th overall of the lowest paid Representative Staff Salaries in 2011. Overall, Illinois ranked 46th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[16]
Net worth
Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Walsh's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $3,004 and $46,000. That averages to $24,502, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican Representatives in 2010 of $7,561,133.[17]
National Journal vote ratings
2011
- See also: National Journal vote ratings
Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of congress voted in the previous year. Walsh ranked 162nd in the conservative rankings.[18]
Political Positions
Percentage voting with party
The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Joe Walsh voted with the Republican Party 87 of the time, which ranked 217 among the 242 House Republican members in November 2011.[19]
Recent news
This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Joe + Walsh + Illinois + House
- All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.
Joe Walsh News Feed
- Joe Walsh: Profile ?young Muslim men? - Salon
- Democrats' Senate Campaigns Marked By Internal Wrangling - Huffington Post - Huffington Post
- Midwest Tea Party Activists Not Surprised by IRS Scrutiny - VOA - Voice of America
- Citing gay marriage, state rep withdraws from Illinois GOP chair search - WBEZ
- Illinois Republican chairman search down to nine - Chicago Tribune
- Democracy for America hires Virginia state director for Purple to Blue Project - Augusta Free Press (press release) (blog)
- Kanye West's Alleged Secret Gay Lover ... and Other Shockers From This Week's ... - Grantland (blog)
- Pat Brady Holds Nothing Back in a Frank Q&A - Chicago magazine - Chicagomag.com
- Illinois GOP's Future: Key Donor Says State Republicans' Internal Quarrels Are ... - Huffington Post
- Go away, 2016 presidential obsession! - Salon
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Personal
Walsh and his wife, Helene, have five children.[4]
External links
- Social media:
- Biographies:
- Political profiles:
- Financial:
- Interest group ratings:
- Issue positions:
- Public statements:
- Voting record:
- Media appearances:
- Media coverage:
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 ABC News 7 "Election Results Primary 2012" Accessed March 20, 2012
- ↑ Roll Call "Top 10 Vulnerable: Targets on Their Backs," March 16, 2012
- ↑ Gov Track "Walsh" Accessed May 21, 2012
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Congressman Joe Walsh "Meet Joe" Accessed November 2, 2011
- ↑ Congressman Joe Walsh "Committee and Caucus Membership"
- ↑ Joe Walsh for Congress, "Issues," Accessed October 4, 2012
- ↑ U.S. House "Roll Call Vote on the Fiscal Cliff" Accessed January 4, 2013.
- ↑ Politico "2012 Election Map, Illinois"
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections "Candidate List" Accessed December 27, 2011
- ↑ The Daily, "The worst candidates of 2012," October 29, 2012
- ↑ Salon, "America's most offensive congressman," July 3, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010"
- ↑ OpenSecrets "2012 Election" Accessed March 21, 2013
- ↑ Daily Kos "Third quarter House fundraising: who's got the cash?" October 18, 2012
- ↑ Open Secrets "Joe Walsh 2010 Election Cycle," Accessed November 2, 2011
- ↑ LegiStorm "Joe Walsh"
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Walsh, (R-Illinois), 2010"
- ↑ National Journal, "Searchable Vote Ratings Tables: House," February 23, 2012
- ↑ Open Congress "Voting With Party"
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Melissa Bean |
U.S. House of Representatives - Illinois, District 8 2011–2013 |
Succeeded by Tammy Duckworth (D) |
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