Baca, Joe, 1947-

<p>Joe Baca won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1999, in a special election to replace one of California’s longest-serving Members. Since then, the former semi-pro baseball player has become a primary advocate to diversify America’s business leadership and has helped procure funding for institutions working for the country’s minority students.</p>

<p>Born the youngest of 15 children in Belen, New Mexico, Baca moved to Barstow, California, at age four. The son of a Santa Fe Railroad worker, Baca shined shoes and worked as a janitor before serving as a paratrooper during the Vietnam era. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State University, Los Angeles, in 1971 and worked for a telephone company until 1989, when he and his wife Barbara became co-owners of a travel agency. The couple raised four children: Joe, Jr.; Jeremy; Natalie; and Jennifer. Baca’s son Joe Baca, Jr., was elected to the Rialto city council after two years in the California state assembly.</p>

<p>Joe Baca’s political career began in 1979 when he was elected to the San Bernardino community college board. He spent the next 14 years on the board, waging two unsuccessful campaigns for a seat in the California state assembly in 1988 and 1990. When he won an assembly seat in 1992, Democrats in Sacramento quickly placed Baca in the leadership, electing him speaker pro tempore in 1995. “Some people tell me I’m too small to do some things,” Baca once remarked. “But I’m not too small. I just have to work harder than the bigger guys.” Two years later he nearly challenged 18-term Democratic U.S. Congressman George E. Brown, Jr., for California’s 42nd District before winning a spot in the state senate in 1998. Brown died only a few months later, and Baca won the Democratic primary and then the special election in a November runoff to fill the remainder of Brown’s unexpired term in the U.S. House during the 106th Congress (1999–2001). He won again in 2000 for the full term to the 107th Congress (2001–2003). Baca now represents California’s 43rd District—located in southwestern California at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains—and since his first victory more than a decade ago he cruised to victories in the general elections.</p>

<p>Joseph Natalio Baca Sr. (born January 23, 1947) is an American Democratic politician who served as U.S. Representative for southwestern San Bernardino County (including Fontana, Rialto, Ontario and parts of the city of San Bernardino) from 1999 to 2013.</p>

<p>In June 2015, Baca switched his affiliation to the Republican Party, citing his "core Christian" and pro-business beliefs. In January 2018, Baca switched his affiliation back to the Democratic Party, saying that "in my heart, I've always been a Democrat with a 100 percent voting record for labor."</p>

<p>Prior to his time in the House of Representatives, Baca served in the California Senate from 1998 to 1999, and the California State Assembly from 1992 to 1998.</p>

BACA, Joe, a Representative from California; born in Belen, Valencia County, N.Mex., January 23, 1947; B.A., California State University, Los Angeles, Calif., 1971; United States Army, 1966-1968; member of the California state assembly, 1992-1999; member of the California state senate, 1999; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Sixth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative George E. Brown, and reelected to the six succeeding Congresses (November 16, 1999-January 3, 2013); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Thirteenth Congress in 2012; unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Fourteenth Congress in 2014; unsuccessful candidate for election as Mayor of Fontana, Calif., in 2014; unsuccessful candidate for nomination as a Republican to the One Hundred Fifteenth Congress in 2016; unsuccessful candidate for nomination to the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress in 2018.