Joe Walsh (Illinois)
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.
Walsh announced that he was running for president of the United States on August 25, 2019.[2] He suspended his presidential campaign on February 7, 2020.[3]
Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Walsh was a rank-and-file Republican.[4]
Walsh was considered a potential candidate for Illinois' U.S. Senate seat in 2016. However, he did not file to run.[5]
Biography
Walsh was born and raised in the 8th District, growing up in a family of 9 children.[6] He has a B.A. in English from the University of Iowa and a Master's 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.[6]
Career
Committee assignments
U.S. House
2011-2012
Walsh served on the following committees:[7]
- 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
Campaign themes
2012
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."[8]
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 1 of 151 Republicans that voted against the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257 - 167 vote on January 1, 2013.[9]
Elections
2020
Presidency
- See also: Presidential candidates, 2020
Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) won the presidential election on November 3, 2020. Biden received 306 electoral votes and President Donald Trump (R) received 232 electoral votes. In the national popular vote, Biden received 81.2 million votes and Trump received 74.2 million votes.
Walsh announced that he was running for president on August 25, 2019.[2] He suspended his presidential campaign on February 7, 2020.[3]
Ballotpedia has compiled the following resources about Walsh and the 2020 presidential election:
- Recent news stories about the 2020 presidential election;
- An overview of key national and state campaign staffers;
- Endorsements from politicians, public figures, and organizations;
- An overview of candidate campaign travel; and
- A list of other presidential candidates who are running for election.
Click here for Joe Walsh's 2020 presidential campaign overview.
2016
Walsh was considered a potential candidate in the 2016 election for the U.S. Senate, to represent Illinois.[10] He ultimately decided against seeking election to the seat.[5]
2012
Walsh lost to newcomer Tammy Duckworth.[11] Walsh was running in the 2012 election for the U.S. House, representing Illinois' 8th District. Walsh sought the nomination on the Republican ticket.[12] The signature filing deadline was December 27, 2011, and the primary took 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.[13] 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.”[14]
| 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.[15]
| U.S. House, Illinois District 8 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 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Tammy Duckworth | Joe Walsh | Undecided | Sample Size | |||||||||||||||
| "Illinois 8th Congressional District Poll" October 25-26 | 54% | 40% | 5% | 500 | |||||||||||||||
| "2012 District 8 Poll" September 18-20 | 52% | 38% | 10% | 508 | |||||||||||||||
| Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. 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 finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
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 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, 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 in 2011.[18]
Voting with party
2011
Joe Walsh voted with the Republican Party 87 of the time, which ranked 217 among the 242 House Republican members as of November 2011.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Walsh and his wife, Helene, have five children.[6]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Joe + Walsh + Illinois + House
See also
- Illinois' 8th Congressional District
- Illinois' 8th Congressional District elections, 2012
- United States House of Representatives
External links
- Social media:
- Biographies:
- Political profiles:
- Financial (federal level):
- Financial (state level):
- Interest group ratings:
- Issue positions:
- Public statements:
- Voting record:
- Media appearances:
- Media coverage:
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 ABC News 7, "Election Results Primary 2012," accessed March 20, 2012 (dead link)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 CNN, "Joe Walsh to take on Trump in 2020 Republican primary," August 25, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Twitter, "Joe Walsh on February 7, 2020," accessed February 7, 2020
- ↑ GovTrack, "Walsh" accessed May 21, 2012
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Illinois State Board of Elections, "Candidate List," accessed November 30, 2015
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 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
- ↑ Chicago Sun Times, "Former Rep. Joe Walsh 'looking at' bid to oust Sen. Mark Kirk," February 17, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, Illinois"
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "Candidate List," accessed December 27, 2011
- ↑ The Daily, "The worst candidates of 2012," accessed 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," accessed March 28, 2013
- ↑ LegiStorm, "Joe Walsh"
- ↑ OpenSecrets, "Walsh, (R-Illinois), 2010"
- ↑ National Journal, "Searchable Vote Ratings Tables: House," accessed February 23, 2012
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Melissa Bean |
U.S. House of Representatives - Illinois, District 8 2011–2013 |
Succeeded by Tammy Duckworth (D) |
