Joe Swartz

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Joe Swartz

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

May 17, 2022

Education

Associate

Fergus Falls Community College, 2002

Bachelor's

University of Minnesota, Morris, 2005

Law

University of Minnesota Law School, 2008

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army

Years of service

2009 - 2018

Personal

Birthplace

Alexandria, Minn.

Religion

Episcopalian

Profession

Salesman

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Joe Swartz (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on May 17, 2022.

Swartz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Joe Swartz was born in Alexandria, Minnesota. Swartz served in the U.S. Army from 2009 to 2018. He earned an associate degree from Fergus Falls Community College in 2002, a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota at Morris in 2005, and a law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2008. Swartz's career experience includes working as an IT firm sales employee with a specialty in cybersecurity.

Elections

2022

See also: North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District election, 2022

North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District election, 2022 (May 17 Democratic primary)

North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District election, 2022 (May 17 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Incumbent Gregory Murphy defeated Barbara Gaskins in the general election for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gregory Murphy (R)	66.9	166,520
		Barbara Gaskins (D)	33.1	82,378

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 248,898
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Barbara Gaskins defeated Joe Swartz in the Democratic primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Barbara Gaskins	80.8	23,051
		Joe Swartz	19.2	5,495

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 28,546
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Tyron Brown (D)
• Jason Minnicozzi (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Incumbent Gregory Murphy defeated Tony Cowden, Eric Earhart, George Papastrat, and Brian Friend in the Republican primary for U.S. House North Carolina District 3 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gregory Murphy	75.7	50,123
		Tony Cowden	14.1	9,332
		Eric Earhart	4.9	3,274
		George Papastrat	2.7	1,789
		Brian Friend	2.6	1,698

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 66,216
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Joe Swartz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Swartz's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm an army veteran, a father, and a military spouse. I come from a rural area like the 3rd District, and I'm passionate about giving voters in rural areas another choice in the election. In my spare time, I enjoy gardening, clay shooting, and horseback writing.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Political extremism is tearing our country apart. We need to find candidates and platforms that build broad coalitions of voters.
• Our district, like most Americans, wants to focus on bread and butter issues: jobs, healthcare, infrastructure.
• The national Democratic Party has written off rural areas. The Republican Party believes the it owns rural areas. If you want folks to pay attention in Washington, show them you can be a swing voter.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

From a policy perspective, I'm focused on getting infrastructure dollars to this district, including rural broadband money. It's also important for us reform healthcare. This not only requires insurance solutions, including a public health insurance option, but solutions focusing on funding for rural hospitals, emergency services, and healthcare worker recruitment. Jobs remain a challenge in rural areas, and we need to provide solutions like recruiting businesses or increasing options for people to train into high demand areas. Finally, as a veteran and current military spouse, we need to make sure we're helping veterans cut red tape to access their benefits and passing legislation that allows military spouses to take their professional credentials from state to state so that they don't have start over professionally at every assignment.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

Without a doubt, yes. But I think it can also be detrimental. On thing that I've experience again and again on this campaign is how easily groupthink settles in. When you talk to political consultants, they all have the same way of doing things, because they're all running campaigns in the same safe areas. If we want to have more competitive areas, we need to tailor our candidates and causes to those areas, not try to use what works for the national party.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

The United States will have a number of challenges. Internally, we are grappling with political extremism. People not only have differing visions of America, they're developing different realities with different facts. We'll also see continued economic difficulties brought on by price increases and inequality, which may contribute to the recent populism. Internationally, we will have increasing problems with migrants and refugees in every hemisphere, which won't have easy political solutions. A more belligerent China and Russia will pose unique threats.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

It's unlikely that we would get a constitutional amendment through, but I'd like to see the terms increased to four years. As it stands, a representative can never leave campaign mode. Because the term is so short, a huge amount of his time must be devoted to fundraising. That's not serving the American people.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I'm in favor of term limits. While there is something to be said for experience, it's also important that we build a broad bench of leadership talent. I am also in favor of age limits for high office. Congress, the presidency, and the judiciary are challenging jobs, not retirement plans.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Not only do I think it's desirable, I think it's necessary. Ideological purity tests and increasing polarization have put us in a place where we can't even pass a budget. Compromise doesn't mean giving up and letting the other guy have his way. It means using negotiation to craft the best solution possible, even if you don't get 100% of what you want. Americans have a lot of policy priorities in common, even across party lines. The legislature's job should be to craft the solution we can all live with, not fundraise eternally based on outrage and frustration.

The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?

My frustration with congress is that they haven't even passed a budget in years and continue to fund things via "continuing resolution". That prevents any new initiatives, which we most recently saw in Ukraine, where it delayed military assistance for months. Congress shouldn't have the option to pass a budget. They should be required to. But they do this so no one has to take responsibility for their votes. If elected, I would introduce a constitutional amendment that requires congress to pass a budget annually. If they failed to do so by the end of the fiscal year, 10% of Representatives and Senators, drawn randomly by lot, would be disqualified from serving and special elections held to replace them.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign website

Swartz's campaign website stated the following:

“	Improving Healthcare I support Medicare negotiating lower prescription drug prices, a public option for those who need care, better funded rural healthcare with more local doctors, and improved mental health and addiction resources. Rural Broadband and Jobs I'll work to expand rural broadband and will bring employers and trade schools together to develop good paying, high-skilled trade jobs for North Carolinians. A Veteran Fighting for Veterans I'll support a bipartisan commission to investigate the Afghanistan withdrawal. I'll fight to improve the VA and veteran benefits, and work to create nationwide professional license reciprocity for military spouses. Reforming Government Americans need a political system that reflects our values and is responsive to our priorities. I believe in term limits for elected leaders and will fight to end political gerrymandering. Unifying North Carolinians and Americans We need to combat alternative realities and extremist movements that seek to drive Americans apart. I'll work to bridge divides and bring decision-makers and voters together on common-ground priorities. Climate Change Addressing climate change means adaptation and developing affordable, low-carbon alternatives. I'll work towards power grid resilience, beach restoration, smart development, and investment in carbon capture. A Woman's Right to Choose I'll fight for reproductive rights and advocate for programs that expand access to birth control so we can keep abortion safe, legal, and rare.	”
—Joe Swartz's campaign website (2022)

See also

2022 Elections

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Government

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External links

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Candidate

U.S. House North Carolina District 3

Website

Facebook

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Footnotes

[show]

North Carolina's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Ted Budd (R)

Thom Tillis (R)

Representatives

District 1

Donald Davis (D)

District 2

Deborah Ross (D)

District 3

Gregory Murphy (R)

District 4

Valerie Foushee (D)

District 5

Virginia Foxx (R)

District 6

Addison McDowell (R)

District 7

David Rouzer (R)

District 8

Mark Harris (R)

District 9

Richard Hudson (R)

District 10

Pat Harrigan (R)

District 11

Chuck Edwards (R)

District 12

Alma Adams (D)

District 13

Brad Knott (R)

District 14

Timothy Moore (R)

Republican Party (12)

Democratic Party (4)