His career in public service officially began when he served on the staffs of South Carolina legends Senator Strom Thurmond and Congressman Floyd Spence. As part of the visionary Ronald Reagan administration, Joe was Deputy General Counsel to the United States Department of Energy Secretary and former South Carolina Governor, Jim Edwards.

Throughout his life, Joe has had a tremendous passion to serve his country, serving as a member of the United States Armed Forces for 31 years. After serving in the United States Army Reserves from 1972-1975, he also served in the South Carolina Army National Guard. In the summer of 2003, Joe retired as a Colonel, having served as a Staff Judge Advocate assigned to the 218th Mechanized Infantry Brigade. At the time, he was the only active Guard member serving in Congress.

Before being elected to the United States Congress in 2001, Joe served 17 years, with perfect attendance, in the South Carolina State Senate where he was elected Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, the first Republican Chairman since the Reconstruction Era.

Joe serves as a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he is the Chair of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia Subcommittee and a member of the Subcommittee on Europe. He is also the most senior member of the House Armed Services Committee where he is on the Subcommittees on Readiness and also Strategic Forces. Additionally, he serves on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions. Joe is the Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, also known as the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Since the 111th Congress, he has been appointed to the highly influential Republican Policy Committee. Joe chairs the Republican Study Committee's National Security and Foreign Affairs Task Force for the 118th Congress. He serves as Co-Chair of the Bulgaria, French, UK, Korea, Ethiopia, Turkiye, Belarus, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Qatar, Republican Israel, Composites, and Counter-Kleptocracy caucuses, in addition to being a founding member and co-chair of the EU Caucus.

As the Representative of the Second Congressional District of South Carolina, Joe is committed to promoting peace through a strong national defense, decreasing taxes for all Americans, and limiting the size and spending of the federal government.

Joe is married to Roxanne, who continues to offer him strength and support in every endeavor. They are parents of four sons, all of whom have served in the U.S. military, and are proud grandparents to nine grandchildren - five boys and four girls. Alan, his oldest son, is a Colonel in the South Carolina Army National Guard who proudly served for a year in Iraq and was recently re-elected as the Attorney General for South Carolina; Addison is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and is a physician in the U.S. Navy who did a tour of duty in Iraq; Julian was a Captain in the South Carolina Army National Guard who served on a peacekeeping tour in Egypt; and Hunter was a First Lieutenant in the South Carolina Army National Guard who did a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Their four sons are all Eagle Scouts.