Joseph David Courtney (born April 6, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Connecticut's 2nd congressional district since 2007. His district encompasses most of the eastern third of the state, including Norwich and New London. A member of the Democratic Party, Courtney served as the Connecticut state representative for the 56th district from 1987 to 1995 and Vernon town attorney from 2003 until 2006.
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Early life and education
Courtney grew up in suburban Hartford. In 1975, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1978.
Early career
After graduating from law school, Courtney worked as a public defender for three years. He became a partner in the law firm Flaherty, Meisler and Courtney, and also served as Town Attorney in Vernon, Connecticut, where he lives.
From 1987 to 1994, Courtney served in the Connecticut House of Representatives, representing Connecticut's 56th district. He chaired the Public Health and Human Service Committee and oversaw the Blue Ribbon Commission on Universal Health Insurance. In 1994, Connecticut Magazine honored him for his bipartisan efforts in the state house.
In 1998, after four years out of office, Courtney made an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor. In 2002, he ran for Congress against incumbent Republican Rob Simmons. Courtney did not announce his candidacy or raise money until September 2001; by that time, Simmons had more than $500,000 in campaign funding. Simmons defeated Courtney in the November election, 54% to 46%.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Courtney challenged Simmons again in 2006, in a race that political strategists projected would be very close. Courtney was declared the winner on Election Day; initial tallies showed him ahead by 167 votes, out of more than 242,000 votes. Under Connecticut law the race qualified for an automatic re-canvass because the winning margin was less than 0.5%. When the recount concluded on November 14, Courtney had 91 votes more than Simmons. The Washington Post later said that the final margin was 83 votes. It was the tightest congressional race of 2006.
Courtney's 2008 Republican challenger was the former commanding officer of the Naval Submarine Base New London, Sean Sullivan. Courtney won the election by a two-to-one margin.
On May 21, 2008, Courtney announced his endorsement of then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama for president.
Courtney was reelected, defeating Republican Janet Peckinpaugh, Green Party nominee Scott Deshefy, and Libertarian Party write-in Dan Reale.
Courtney defeated Republican Lori Hopkins-Cavanagh, a business owner and radio show host from New London, Connecticut.
In 2016, Courtney defeated Republican Daria Novak, Green Party candidate Jonathan Pelto and Libertarian Dan Reale. Novak co-hosted a weekly cable television show, "American Political Zone", and a nationally syndicated radio show, "Vernuccio-Novak Report."
In April 2018, Dan Postemski, an Iraq War veteran and chair of the Hampton Republican Town Committee, announced his plans to challenge Courtney in the 2018 election. Postemski said that he wanted "to bring common sense to budgeting" and that he was "a strong supporter of the 2nd amendment" and would "fight to the death to save it." In a reference to Courtney's participation in a gun-control sit-in, Postemski said, "Joe Courtney has literally sat down on the job, right on the floor of the House. That’s not how a leader makes change." Courtney was reelected by more than 20 points.
Tenure
In August 2009, Courtney was criticized for holding a teleconference with voters about health care instead of an in-person town hall. Richard Hanley, graduate journalism director at Quinnipiac University, complained that part of Courtney's job "is to wade into the muck of the process as it is, not as we would like it to be."
Courtney has branded himself as bipartisan and has blamed various government crises on failure to "support a real compromise." In 2012, he said that though recent budget cuts to education were a "little heavy" and the Budget Control Act "ham-handed," he voted for them in a spirit of compromise. "It took guys like me to cross the aisle and make sure we didn't fall off the tracks there as a country," Courtney said.
After seeing Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln in February 2013, Courtney wrote Spielberg a letter pointing out that although the film showed Connecticut House members voting against the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, in fact the state's entire congressional delegation had supported the amendment. He asked Spielberg for some kind of acknowledgment of the error, perhaps on the DVD. "It's important that people be aware who saw this movie that we were a state that lost soldiers, were staunch supporters of Lincoln in both elections and, in the case of the Democrat from New Haven, actually voted against his party in support of the amendment," said Courtney, who made his letter public. "The state's good name, I personally feel, was tarnished a bit." His criticism, in the words of the Washington Post, "played well back home in Connecticut", where it occasioned "a number of grateful newspaper editorials", but "set off alarms in showbiz circles: Ballots had just gone out to Oscar voters. Was the congressman trying to influence the Academy Awards in favor of another contender?" The Post noted that "Courtney had a debt to Ben Affleck", who had campaigned for him and whose film Argo was up against Lincoln for Best Picture.
In March 2015, after receiving two phone calls at home from scammers impersonating IRS agents demanding payment of owed taxes, Courtney warned his constituents to be wary of such scams.
A golf game Courtney played with President Obama was highlighted on NPR in June 2015.
In response to purported Republican hostility toward Muslims, Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz urged Democratic members of Congress to invite Muslims as their guests to Obama's State of the Union address in January 2016. Accordingly, Courtney invited Mohammed Qureshi, president of the Baitul Aman Mosque, an Ahmadiyya house of worship in Connecticut. The invitation garnered considerable media attention.
Political positions
As of 2023, Courtney was ranked the most bipartisan Member of Congress from Connecticut, according to the Lugar Center.
Through his work as Chair and then Ranking Member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, Rep. Courtney has advanced the AUKUS security agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
In the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, Courtney successfully co-lead a bipartisan amendment with Rep. Mike Ghallager to establish a joint training pipeline for Australian Navy servicemembers to skill up alongside U.S. Navy sailors in the mechanics of Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines.
In the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, Courtney again successfully lead bipartisan efforts to authorize the historic sale of three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to the Australian Government, the training of Australian private sector defense personnel, the integration of Australian financial contributions into the U.S. defense industrial base, and the sharing of technology and information between the three AUKUS nations to safely streamline security cooperation. The sale of Virginia-class submarines will mark the first time since the launch of the USS Nautilus in 1958 that the U.S. will sell conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines to another nation.
In October 2024, Rep. Courtney was appointed as an Honorary Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (the equivalent of the Knight Bachelor in Australia's previous Imperial Awards) for his extraordinary service to Australia in the advancement of the AUKUS security agreement and his leadership as Co-Chair of the Friends of Australia Congressional Caucus, a bipartisan caucus which seeks to "expand and enrich the strong United States-Australian partnership".
In November 2024, Courtney was presented with an official award for his appointment into the Order of Australia. He joined a select group of non-Australian citizens to receive this honor, including Senator Roy Blunt, former Co-Chair of the Friends of Australia Caucus, Admiral Harry Harris, former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea and Commander of the Indo-Pacific Command, and General David Petraeus, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Committee assignments
For the 119th Congress:
Committee on Armed Services
Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
Committee on Education and Workforce
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development
Caucus memberships
Congressional Arts Caucus
Congressional Equality Caucus
Afterschool Caucuses
Blue Collar Caucus
Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
Congressional Ukraine Caucus
Veterinary Medicine Caucus