Joseph Natalio Baca Sr. (born January 23, 1947) is an American Democratic politician who served as the U.S. representative for southwestern San Bernardino County (including Fontana, Rialto, Ontario and parts of the city of San Bernardino) from 1999 to 2013.
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."
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.
He currently serves on the Rialto City Council.
Early life, education and career
Baca was born in Belen, New Mexico in 1947, the youngest of 15 children in a primarily Spanish-speaking household. His father was a railroad laborer. The family moved to Barstow, California when Joe was young, where he shined shoes at age 10, delivered newspapers, and later worked as a laborer for the Santa Fe Railroad, until he was drafted in 1966, serving in the United States Army until 1968. He did not serve in Vietnam.
Following military service, Baca attended Barstow Community College and went on to receive his bachelor's degree in sociology from California State University, Los Angeles. He worked for 15 years in community relations with General Telephone and Electric. In 1979, he was the first Latino elected to the board of trustees for the San Bernardino Valley College District. He was elected to the State Assembly in 1992, and to the State Senate in 1998.
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee assignments
Committee on Agriculture
Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, and Credit
Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture (Ranking Member) Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Caucus membership
Congressional Hispanic Caucus (Former Chairman) Corporate America, Technology, Communications and the Arts Task Force (Chairman) Blue Dog Coalition
He served on the House Financial Services Committee, where he was a member of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises, and the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. Rep. Baca also served on the House Agriculture Committee, where he was the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Departmental Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry.
Rep. Baca was the Chair of the CHC Corporate America Task Force, which aims to increase Hispanic representation in corporate America. He created and co-chaired the Congressional Sex and Violence in the Media Caucus. Other caucus memberships included the Congressional Diabetes Caucus, the Military/ Veterans Caucus, the Native American Caucus and the U.S.-Mexico Caucus.
In 2011, Rep. Baca became a co-sponsor of Bill H.R.3261 otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act. The same year, he voted for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 as part of a controversial provision that allows the government and the military to indefinitely detain American citizens and others without trial.
In March 2012, Baca and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) introduced a bill that would force video game companies to put warning labels on their products. H.R. 4204, the Violence in Video Games Labeling Act, would compel game companies to label their products with "WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior".
Political campaigns
1999 special election
A few months after Baca was elected to the State Senate, Congressman George Brown, Jr. died after a long illness. Baca finished first in a seven-way primary, but fell far short of a majority due to the presence of two minor Democratic candidates. In the runoff, Baca defeated Republican Elia Pirozzi with 50.4%.
Baca won a full term in 2000 with 59% of the vote. After the 2000 census, the district was renumbered as the 43rd and reconfigured as a majority-Hispanic district. Baca was handily reelected from this redrawn district in 2002, and did not face another close contest again until 2012.