His exchange with then-Senator Barack Obama in 2008 made him a household name, along with becoming a talking point favorite among conservatives in a last-ditch effort to save the floundering campaign of John McCain. Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher was captured greeting candidate Obama, asking if the Illinois Democrat’s tax plan would screw him over regarding his plumbing venture.
He later became a media figure, with a brief stint as a war correspondent for PJ Media. In 2012, he ran for Congress in Ohio but got shellacked. He never revealed who he voted for in 2008. Tragically, Mr. Wurzelbacher, known as “Joe the Plumber” to most, passed away at the age of 49 due to pancreatic cancer (via Breitbart):
Joe Wurzelebacher, whom Americans would remember as “Joe the Plumber” from the 2008 presidential election, died on Sunday at the age of 49 from pancreatic cancer.
News of Wurzelebacher’s death broke on Twitter late Sunday afternoon.
“Horrible news. My good friend Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, passed away this morning at the age of 49 from pancreatic cancer. He was a good man and an exceptional friend. Please consider helping his widow and young children here,” announced Townhall columnist Derek Hunter, who shared a GiveSendGo link.
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Joe and his wife were married in 2011. They have three children together.
Wurzelebacher became a household name during the 2008 presidential election when the media dubbed him “Joe the Plumber” after he questioned then-presidential candidate Barack Obama about his tax policy.
“I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes 250 to 280 thousand dollars a year. Your new tax plan’s going to tax me more, isn’t it?” asked Joe.
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“If you’re a small business, which you would qualify, first of all, you would get a 50 percent tax credit so you’d get a cut in taxes for your health care costs,” Obama responded. “So you would actually get a tax cut on that part. If your revenue is above 250, then from 250 down, your taxes are going to stay the same. It is true that, say for 250 up — from 250 to 300 or so, so for that additional amount, you’d go from 36 to 39 percent, which is what it was under Bill Clinton.”
“It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance at success, too,” he continued.
Though he vanished into obscurity in his final years, Joe the Plumber has come to symbolize working Americans’ dissatisfaction with the political system, feeling the deck is stacked against them while being picked apart by both parties on various issues. The “Joe the Plumber” voter is a mainstay of American politics, as the voters who fit this mold number in the tens of millions. Maybe the latest version of this voter is a “Rich Men North of Richmond” fan now, as Oliver Anthony had to come out recently and say that his tune isn’t purely anti-Biden; everyone sucks.
The man who was thrust into the political spotlight as "Joe the Plumber" has died.
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 28, 2023
Samuel "Joe" Wurzelbacher, 49, gained attention after questioning Barack Obama about his tax policies during the 2008 campaign. https://t.co/fKFTfGeUhe