Born and raised in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where he attended Cardinal O’Hara High school prior to graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, former 3-star Admiral Joe Sestak is an experienced, independent leader who served in the Navy for 31 years and then as the highest ranking military officer ever elected to Congress when he represented Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District from 2007-2010, during which the National Journal identified him as “at the ideological center of the House.” He commanded an aircraft carrier battle group that conducted combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, served as President Clinton’s Director for Defense Policy on the National Security Council in the White House, the first Director of the Navy’s anti-terrorism unit (Deep Blue) after 9/11, and the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations responsible for the Navy’s five year $350 billion warfare requirements. Joe ran for U.S. Senate in 2010, bucking the entire Democratic Party leadership. Against all odds, he overcame a 40 point deficit to win the nomination over a 30-year incumbent, Senator Specter. After the primary, Joe continued to run as the candidate with a pragmatic, independent approach in a Senate election decided by only two points in a year where the party lost the Pennsylvania governor’s race and five Congressional seats by an average of 11 points – all despite being outspent more than any other Senate or Governor’s race (except one) in America that year.