Official Website
(202) 225-2076
B.A, Tufts University, J.D., University of Connecticut School of Law
Education and Labor, Armed Services
$2,141,929.
| Janet Peckinpaugh (R) | 95,671 | (38.8%) |
| Joe Courtney (D) | 140,888 | (57.1%) |
| Joe Courtney (WF) | 3,344 | (1.4%) |
| G. Scott Deshefy (G) | 6,860 | (2.8%) |
| 0 | (0%) |
Courtney unseated three-term Republican Rob Simmons by 83 votes in 2006. He challenged Simmons and lost in 2002. He previously was elected to four terms in the state House of Representatives, beginning in 1986. He was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor on a losing ticket led by Barbara B. Kennelly in 1998. Despite the 2nd District's history of close races, including Courtney's election in 2006, he has won re-election easily twice. In 2010 he beat former television personality Janey Peckinpaugh by nearly 20 percentage points.
Courtney arrived in Washington as "Landslide Joe," a tentative congressman-elect whose 83-vote recount victory was announced by House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi at a dinner for the incoming class. His first months in Washington were vividly described in a long Washington Post story about the life of a new congressman.
Courtney's big departure from the Democratic leadership and the rest of the Connecticut delegation was over the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. He was Connecticut's sole no vote, a position that he says generated as much grief as praise from his constituents.
He supported increasing the minimum wage, expanding health coverage for children, raising gas-mileage standards and banning discrimination against gays in the workplace. In 2010, Courtney also bucked the party leadership in voting for an $858 billion tax cut deal that included extending all the Bush-era tax breaks, even those for wealthiest top 2 percent of Americans. That measure also extended unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed and included a generous estate tax levy for the very rich, among other tax provisions.
On defense, Courtney is a naval spending hawk, a position that congressmen of either party tend to assume when nuclear submarines are built and based in their districts. In his first term, with the help of senior congressmen, Courtney scored a major win with $588 million additional funding for submarines.
Democratic leadership gave Courtney a seat on the Armed Services Committee, an important perch for congressman with a base of defense contractors. On Education and Labor, he sits on a subcommittee on health, employment labor and pensions. Courtney has been a policy wonk on health care since his days as a state legislator, a niche he's nurtured in Washington as well.
An assessment by The Almanac of American Politics had Courtney voting liberal 73 percent of the time in 2007 and 82 percent in 2008.
Courtney is married and has two children. His wife, Audrey, is a nurse practitioner. They live in Vernon, where Courtney practiced law before his election to Congress.
2009 Financial Disclosure: Courtney had a net worth of between $74,018 and $410,000, ranking him 321st in the House, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. To see his financial disclosure form and a list of his holdings, click here.
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THE MINIMUM WAGE
Connecticut's hourly minimum wage of $8.25 is one of the highest in the nation, trailing Washington at $9.04, Oregon at $8.80 and Vermont at $8.46.
Five of the six New England states exceed the federal minimum of $7.25. The exception is New Hampshire, whose minimum is the same as the feds.
Connecticut is one of 18 states with a minimum higher than the federal standard. Twenty-thrree are at the federal level, four are below it and five have no minimum wage.
Ten states have a minimum wage indexed to the cost of living.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
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