Joe Babb earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Davis in 1987. He earned a graduate degree from San Diego State University in 1991. His career experience includes working as a foreign service officer.[1]
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Gerald Edward Connolly advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Virginia District 11.
Republican Primary for U.S. House Virginia District 11
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: James Myles in round 4 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.
Joe Babb completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Babb's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
I'm a retired 20-year career diplomat with the U.S. Department of State. I served four tours overseas in political and economic positions at the U.S. embassies in Mexico, Spain, and Latvia, and at the U.S. Consulate in Adana, Turkey. Domestically, I served in the State Department's Economic Bureau working on international trade negotiations, namely the renegotiation of NAFTA (now the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement) and free trade talks with the European Union and the United Kingdom. I was also an accredited delegate to the World Trade Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Prior to my diplomatic career I was a wildlife biologist, and worked eight years with the County of San Diego reviewing the environmental impacts of proposed development and creating computer mapping and habitat models for the region's Multiple Species Conservation Program.
I'm also a husband, father of two high schoolers, and a huge sports fan.
We are not each other's enemies just because we have differing political views. We used to have productive and respectful political dialogue with our fellow Americans, and we can again.
We must restore civility in politics in order to build working relationships in Congress. With the filibuster in the Senate, any significant progress to solve our nation's major problems requires bipartisan support.
The most urgent of our nation's problems is our ballooning national debt. Endless deficit spending fuels inflation, spawns inefficient programs, and is quickly endangering our common economic future.
I believe public service must be rooted in respect, honesty and facts. Hatred, envy, political spin, conspiracy theories and outright lies have no place in government. I am passionate about empowering individual freedoms and responsibilities, guaranteeing fiscal stability, ensuring equality and the rule of law, protecting the free exercise of religion, preserving a healthy environment, building an informed and educated citizenry, limiting the size and reach of government, and maintaining fair and efficient markets.
My mom and dad have both been tremendous examples of integrity, compassion, humor, and intellectual curiosity. Outside the family, I have always admired Roger Staubach for his service to his country and his "good guys can win" example in sports, and in politics, my whole philosophy and demeanor is based in Ronald Reagan's optimism, leadership, and steadfast belief in our nation's people and values.
JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity, by Lawrence Kudlow and Brian Domitrovic. The book makes a good argument that there is a set of shared economic beliefs in American politics that was proven highly successful under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
The first moon landing in 1969. I was four and a half, and had lots of plastic astronauts and models from the Mercury and Gemini programs. What a great introduction to a kid on what our country can achieve together.
The Lever of Riches, by Joel Mokyr, is a recent favorite. Kind of a nerdy, academic read on technological advancements in Europe and China from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution, but I like seeing the background and root causes of differences in current systems and nations.
While at times it is a detriment, the short two-year term in the House does force members to keep on their toes. Its elections provide critical fine-tuning to policy and a visible demonstration of the will of the public in between presidential elections.
Our national debt is the largest fundamental problem. Politicians, and the voters who elect them, have avoided for decades the hard choices between taxation and services by putting the bill on the nation's credit card and pushing the pain to future generations. We can't keep kicking the can down the road. Our $30 trillion debt is not only fueling resurgent inflation now, by 2050 a full 45% of government revenue will go solely to paying the interest on the national debt. That will endanger all other government efforts, from social programs to defense spending.
Another challenge we face is in reversing the tendency of extremists leading discussion in political, social, and scientific debate. We have let dialogue in too many areas be framed by alarmists on one side and deniers on the other, whether it be in climate change, race relations, education or health policy. We can no longer let important matters be framed by those on the far ends of the bell curve, turning issues into frozen conflicts and impeding solutions.
I'll agree with the Founders on this one. Such a short term has its detriments, but I do like the counter-cyclical demonstration of public opinion that it provides in between presidential elections. In all, I think that benefit outweighs the down side of House members having to deal with re-election.
I'm against term limits. I share most people's frustration with entrenched do-nothing or self-serving politicians, but term limits frankly shifts the blame from the voters. Voters have the responsibility to know their representatives' records and vote out those not fulfilling their oaths. Too often, voters choose from simple name recognition or habit. If any state or district is fortunate enough to have a dynamic, honest, smart and experienced public servant to represent them, they shouldn't be denied of that experience and institutional knowledge by an arbitrary time limit. Voters need to take responsibility and not blame the system.
Core values should never be compromised, but too often our political parties are either too lazy, uneducated, self-serving, or lacking in creativity to find overlapping areas of interest. There are often opportunities to cooperate and identify common areas of agreements, but that takes the will to communicate, listen to unique solutions, and act in good faith. Reagan was able to do it, and I don't think anyone can identify a core value he compromised. Kennedy did it as well. With the filibuster in the Senate, any major and lasting progress requires bipartisanship. Cramming change down the throats of your opponents via Executive Orders or budget reconciliation is too easily overturned in the following election cycle.
I will constantly advocate for zero-based budgeting, in which Department's will have to justify spending yearly and prove the effectiveness and efficiency of programs. Additionally, I will introduce bills that mandate entitlement programs to be actuarially sound (demonstrating that future payouts are backed long-term by actual revenue) and paid for with payroll tax revenue streams, not debt-backed general fund revenue.
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