Joe Walsh (Congressman)

Joe Walsh (2011)

William Joseph "Joe" Walsh (born December 27, 1961 in North Barrington , Lake County , Illinois ) is an American politician . From 2011 to 2013 he represented the state of Illinois in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Joe Walsh grew up in North Barrington and attended Barrington High School until 1980 . He then studied until 1985 at the University of Iowa in Iowa City . He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1991 . Then he worked as a private businessman. Politically, he joined the Republican Party . In 1996 he ran unsuccessfully for Congress . Two years later, his candidacy for the Illinois House of Representatives failed .

In the 2010 congressional election , Walsh was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the eighth constituency of Illinois , where he succeeded the previously defeated Democrat Melissa Bean on January 3, 2011 . He was a member of the Homeland Security Committee , the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Small Business, as well as eight subcommittees. Walsh was an outspoken opponent of President Barack Obama , whom he sharply criticized at the beginning of his time in Congress, a criticism that he put into perspective in 2019: he, Walsh, and other members of the Tea Party movement had helped the political climate to be irreconcilable and thus created a mood that made the election of Trump possible. “I've become personal and hateful. I've said some ugly things about President Obama that I regret [...] you helped Trump get into office. [Trump] is crazy. He's a mess. He is brutal. He stirs up bigotry . He is incapable. He doesn't know what he's doing [...], he's a narcissist. "

On the other hand, Walsh is not free from controversy. In September 2011, he was one of 19 congressmen reprimanded for ethical violations by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington . He made headlines, among other things, because he lost his driver's license due to a lack of insurance payments, because he fell behind with maintenance payments and because he mocked his political opponent Tammy Duckworth , who had lost her legs as a helicopter pilot in the Iraq war . Walsh questioned her status as a war hero.

In the 2012 congressional elections he then lost 45:55 percent of the vote against Tammy Duckworth, who was able to replace him in parliament on January 3, 2013.

Walsh, who currently works as a radio host, announced on August 25, 2019 that he would run as a Republican presidential candidate against President Donald Trump in the 2020 primaries . He has described himself as a "hardliner" on immigration issues, was part of the tea party movement, and says he will challenge Trump not from a center position but from the right, on moral grounds. In the first primary Iowa in early February, he received 1.1% of the vote and announced his withdrawal from the candidacy.

Web links

• Joe Walsh in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Joe Walsh in the nndb (English)
• Joe Walsh's website

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Former congressman Joe Walsh announces primary challenge against Trump. In: Washington Post. August 25, 2019, accessed on August 25, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Joe Walsh Accuses Tammy Duckworth, Double Amputee, Of Not Being A 'True Hero'. In: Huffington Post. July 3, 2012, accessed August 25, 2019 . 
3. ^ CNN Election Center: US House: Illinois District 08 ( July 9, 2014 memento in the Internet Archive ).