{"id":41755,"date":"2023-08-27T19:40:16","date_gmt":"2023-08-27T23:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/?p=41755"},"modified":"2023-08-28T09:17:07","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T13:17:07","slug":"joe-wurzelbacher-known-as-joe-the-plumber-in-2008-election-dies-at-49","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bnonews.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/joe-wurzelbacher-known-as-joe-the-plumber-in-2008-election-dies-at-49\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Wurzelbacher, known as ‘Joe the Plumber’ in 2008 election, dies at 49"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joe Wurzelbacher, the Ohio man who became well-known as “Joe the Plumber” after questioning Barack Obama about his tax plan during the 2008 election campaign, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 49.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wurzelbacher died on Sunday morning after a months-long battle with pancreatic cancer, according to close friends. He is survived by his wife Katie, their three young children – Samantha Jo, Henry and Sarah Jo – and an adult son, Joey, from a previous marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A crowdfunding campaign<\/a> for Wurzelbacher’s family raised more than $120,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wurzelbacher rose to national fame after asking Barack Obama, then the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, about his tax plan and whether he’d have to pay more as a small business owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes $250-280,000 a year. Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?” Wurzelbacher asked Obama at a campaign stop near Toledo, Ohio in October 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obama admitted Wurzelbacher would have to pay more in taxes for revenue above $250,000, explaining that he wanted to give smaller businesses a tax cut to “spread the wealth around.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican opponent John McCain seized on those comments, which he said exposed Obama for having a socialist, wealth-distributing world view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afterwards, Wurzelbacher joined McCain and his running mate, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, at campaign events and he became a key topic at the third and final presidential debate, with “Joe the Plumber” representing the quintessential American everyman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, Wurzelbacher unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House in Ohio’s 9th congressional district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of his public comments were criticized, including in 2014, when he wrote an open letter to the families of victims killed in a mass shooting, saying: “As harsh as this sounds – your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights [to bear arms].”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, Wurzelbacher said he voted for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who won the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He\u2019s a winner. He\u2019s made billions. He\u2019s dated beautiful women. His wife is a model. That\u2019s not to sniff at. And a lot of people believe he can bring that kind of success to the White House,” Wurzelbacher said in an interview with Reuters in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Joe the Plumber with his family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n