Bio
Joe Kaufman, a candidate for United States Congress in Florida’s 23rd District, was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1970. He was raised by his grandparents in Westchester, New York and studied at the University of Maryland, where he received a degree in communications. In 1993, Joe moved to South Florida to care for his grandmother and has been there ever since.
Joe made a name for himself as an investigative journalist, having articles published in FrontPage Magazine, the Hudson Institute, Pajamas Media and National Review. His expertise lies in the areas of national security and foreign affairs. Today, he is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
Exactly one month prior to 9/11, Kaufman wrote that the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center would happen again. Immediately after his words proved to be true, Joe dedicated his life to the global war against terror. In 1998, he founded the Joe Kaufman Security Initiative (originally Americans Against Hate), a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization dedicated to fighting terrorism and exposing bigotry.
Joe has served as a consultant to several government agencies including the FBI, Department of Defense and Homeland Security. He has been instrumental in getting multiple terrorist charities shut down and terror-related individuals put behind bars. Between 2004 and 2006, Kaufman was involved in a number of high profile legal cases at the Klayman Law Firm in Miami, while serving as special assistant to Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch.
In 2006, Joe helped found and became the spokesman for the Terror-Free Oil Initiative, an organization that stressed energy independence for the United States. In 2007, Joe helped to create the world’s first Terror-Free Oil gas station in Omaha, Nebraska. That same year, Joe gave a keynote address at UCLA on global terrorism and the problems with the Iraq War. Three years later, his non-profit’s three hour Pro-Israel Conference was broadcast in its entirety on C-SPAN.
A few more highlights of Joe’s career include being co-founder of the first Florida chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition, former vice president and treasurer of the Broward County Young Republicans, junior lobbyist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and committeeman for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Joe has given lectures at events sponsored by the Middle East Forum, the Intelligence Summit, America’s Truth Forum, Broward County Special Olympics and Hadassah. He has been featured on radio and television networks that include, but are not limited to, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and PBS.
When a group of community leaders sat Joe down and asked him to run for Congress, Joe gave it some deep thought before humbly accepting their nomination. Soon Joe would be the Republican Nominee against Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in 2014, 2016 and 2018. Today, Joe believes he has the best chance in the field of Republicans to take over the seat that is being vacated by Congressman Ted Deutch.
Joe along with his incredible wife Emily and amazing daughter Ruth are practicing Jews who place their enduring belief in G-d at the center of their lives. Emily, who is originally from Peru, is the Spanish teacher at Katz Yeshiva High School, in Boca Raton, and the former Spanish teacher for Beis Chana Lubavitch Educational Center and Hebrew teacher for Birthright.