John J. H. "Joe" Schwarz, M.D. (born November 15, 1937), a Republican from Michigan, was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2004. He represented the state's 7th Congressional district from January 2005 to January 2007. (map)

Schwarz was born and raised in Battle Creek, Michigan, after his family moved there in 1935 so his father could work as a physician in the Veterans Administration Hospital. He attended Fremont Elementary School, W.K. Kellogg Junior High School, and graduated from Battle Creek Central High School. He played on the baseball, swimming and football teams at B.C. Central. In 1959, he received a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he played on the football team and was a member of the Glee Club. He earned an M.D. from Wayne State University, Detroit, in 1964, completed his medical residency in Los Angeles and subsequently joined the U.S. Navy, where he served as a combat surgeon for a Marine battalion in Vietnam. He was then assigned to the U.S. Embassy at Jakarta, Indonesia, where he first met his future wife, Anne. From 1968-1970, he worked as a Central Intelligence Agency operative in Southeast Asia. After resigning from the CIA in 1970, he completed his surgical training in otolaryngology at the Harvard Medical School, where he married his first wife and had a daughter, Brennan.

He returned, with his new family, to Battle Creek in 1974, and has been a practicing physician in Battle Creek since that time. He currently sees patients at the Family Health Center in Battle Creek, a federally qualified health center. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. His first wife died in 1990, and he is divorced from his second wife. He has one daughter from his first marriage.

He served as a Battle Creek City Commissioner, 1979-1985, as mayor of Battle Creek, 1985-1987, and as a member of the Michigan Senate, 1987-2002 where he was president pro tempore, 1993-2002. He left the senate due to term-limit laws, but launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for governor in 2002, losing the primary to Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus.

Schwarz had previously attempted a bid for the Republican nomination for a seat in the U.S. House in 1992 when he lost to Nick Smith in the primary for the 7th District.

Schwarz co-chaired the U.S. presidential Republican primary campaign of his friend U.S. Senator John McCain in 2000.

Schwarz is considered to be a liberal Republican. However, he favored extending some tax cuts, manufacturing liablilty reform and overhauling America's medical malpractice laws, which he says lead to frivolous lawsuits and force doctors to demur from treating patients. Schwarz is pro-choice and favors embryonic stem cell research.

Schwarz was elected to represent the seventh district of Michigan for a single term succeeding retiring Republican Nick Smith, whose voting record was much more conservative. Schwarz defeated Smith's son Brad Smith in a six-way Republican primary race. In the general election, Schwarz received 58% of the vote, while Democrat Sharon Renier received 36%. The remaining 6% was divided between the Green, Libertarian and U.S. Taxpayers Party candidates.

Schwarz is a member of Christine Todd Whitman's Republican Leadership Council and The Republican Main Street Partnership. He is also a member of The Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans for Choice and Republicans for Environmental Protection.

Schwarz lost in the 2006 Republican primary to Tim Walberg, a former state representative who finished behind Schwarz in the primary when the south-central 7th District seat was open in 2004. Walberg was backed by the conservative political action committees Club for Growth (based in Washington, D.C.) and Right to Life of Michigan.

The race had drawn more than $1 million from outside groups; Schwarz had received support from President Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain.^[1] Schwarz outspent Walberg by a 2-1 margin in the primary.