He is married to Barbara Dominguez Baca and has four children, San Bernardino County Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr., Jeremy, Natalie and Jennifer Baca. He also has seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. While serving as a United State Congressman he worked with three United Presidents, President Bill Clinton, President George Bush, President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden, as a United State Senator and Vice President to Obama.

He entered politics in 1979 by becoming the First Hispanic elected to San Bernardino Community College District, as a Board of Trustee member until 1992. He then was elected to the State Assembly 1992, where he became the first Latino elected Speaker Pro Tempore of the State Assembly. After six years in the State Assembly , he was elected to the State Senate in 1998. During a special election in 1999, he was elected to serve as a member of the United State Congress, where he served for seven terms until 2013. He served on the House Agriculture Committee, member of the subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture and Subcommittee on Livestock Dairy and Poultry and member of the Financial Services Committee, where he was a member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and Natural Resource Committee and subcommittee on Power and Water. He was also elected Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in 2007-2008. While Chair he led efforts to beat back harmful anti-immigrant and English-only amendments, ensure that Hispanic and Native American Veterans were included in a PBS World War ll documentary, "The War", and secured record levels of funding for the following: Minority Serving Institutions of higher learning, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges. Throughout his career in public service, Joe has always strived to serve as a voice for the poor and disadvantaged.

He has secured over $154 million in appropriations for vital education, transportation, public safety, and health projects in the Inland Empire. He also brought in over $570 million in stimulus funds, more than all the other House members combined from the Inland Empire. For the City of Rialto he secured over $23, 632,000, for projects. While Chair of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, Joe secured record levels of funding for federal nutrition programs in the 2008 Farm Bill, which helped put food on the table for 46 million hungry Americans. He changed the name of Food Stamps to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and established EBT cards to reduce

the stigma associated with food stamps. He held hearings that led to the decision by Attorney General Holden of the Pigford discrimination of decision against Black Farmers by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He introduced legislation that was signed into law by President Obama creating Native American Heritage Day Act. He voted against the Iraq War. He also voted to increase the funding for our veterans and to establish a new G.I. Bill for our veterans and the legislation to assist our veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He secured millions for perchlorate cleanup and water recycling in the Inland Empire. He fought for workers rights and voted against every Free Trade Agreement that came before Congress, that included Equal Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act to to help end the wage gap between men and women. He introduced legislation that allowed the transformation of Rialto Airport to what is now the Renaissance Development in the City of Rialto. Funding for the I-10 Riverside Avenue Interchange, the I-210 Pepper Interchange and expansion., the Rialto Metrolink Station, variety of projects for the Rialto Police Department, the Cancer Presumption legislation for Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters, POW/MIA recognition, special interest license plates to fund Breast Cancer Treatment Account.

While in Congress he was recognized as one of the most influential Hispanic Leaders in America for three years running by Latino Leaders Magazine . In addition he had a school named in his honor, Joe Baca Middle School in the Colton Unified School District. He received numerous awards for public service, including the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President's Achievement Award, the National Farmers Union Presidential Award for Leadership, the Walter Kaitz Foundation Diversity Advocate Award, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Coalition of Minority Employees Award of Excellence, USHLI Edward R. Roybal-Henry B Gonzalez Award for Excellence in Public Service and FMCRC Golden Eagle Award, A builder of Community and Country, TELACU "CREO" Award, and recently was inducted into the Congressional Baseball Hall of Fame. In November 2022 was elected to Rialto City Council and is now a a Councilman for the City of Rialto.

Partial listing of awards, recognition, legislation and accomplishment, while as a State Legislator and United State Congressman.