VoterLens
Back to candidate
Compare candidates
U.S. House New York District 9
Base
JA
Joel Anabilah-Azumah
DemocraticU.S. House · NY · District 9
U.S. House New York District 9
U.S. House · NY · District 9
Union College—Bachelor's in Civil Engineering
Data last updated 10/27/2026
Joel Anabilah-Azumah is a small business owner and president of TransportAzumah, with BallotReady listing his professional experience there from 2002 to present. He has also worked in volleyball coaching, including as an assistant coach for FIT after a three-year stint with Iona's volleyball program and as co-head coach at the Marymount School; FIT also identifies him as the founder and owner of Transport Azumah.
Committee Assignments: No committee assignments available.
Joel Anabilah-Azumah takes a market-oriented approach to healthcare: he opposes making government responsible for ensuring everyone has health insurance and opposes eliminating private insurance, while supporting cost-control measures such as price transparency, reducing non-value-added middlemen, and lowering ACA deductibles.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Anabilah-Azumah disagreed with the statement that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure everyone has health insurance.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah disagreed with eliminating private healthcare insurance, indicating support for retaining private coverage options.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah said middlemen that do not add value to healthcare must be removed as part of making coverage more adequate, affordable, and accessible.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah said hospitals should post a fixed range of prices for routine procedures so patients can compare facilities and manage costs.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah said insurance offered through the Affordable Care Act should have lower deductibles, arguing that deductibles are often as high as or higher than premiums.
SourceJoel Anabilah-Azumah’s Economy & Jobs positions emphasize higher starting wages, lower taxes and regulation, infrastructure investment, and a preference for private prosperity over expanded government handouts. His platform pairs populist wage support with a pro-property-ownership, anti-regulatory approach.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Anabilah-Azumah supports increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $17 per hour, arguing that higher starting wages would help reduce dependence on the welfare state.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah says people should keep more of what they earn and that property ownership should not be punished by high taxes or onerous regulations.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah supports a major infrastructure campaign to rebuild roads, rail and pipelines and to build new nuclear power plants.
SourceIn his Ballotpedia profile, Anabilah-Azumah says government should create conditions for citizens to prosper on their own rather than being handed things.
SourceJoel Anabilah-Azumah takes a restrictive, enforcement-focused stance on immigration, supporting border-wall infrastructure, E-Verify, retention of ICE, denial of funds to sanctuary jurisdictions, and screening of immigrants he says do not fit an American profile. He also supports a guest-worker pathway for people who can improve U.S. quality of life or fill labor shortages, with legal protections under U.S. law.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Anabilah-Azumah strongly agreed that the United States should construct a border wall and related infrastructure to give the government complete control over entering and exiting the country.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah strongly agreed that state and federal funds should be denied to public or private entities, including sanctuary cities, that are not in compliance with immigration laws.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah agreed that employers should be required to use E-Verify to confirm that employees are eligible to work in the United States.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah said people who can improve the quality of life or function of the United States should be admitted and called for a new guest-worker program to address worker shortages while giving workers full protection under U.S. law.
SourceIn a 2018 interview, Anabilah-Azumah supported the Trump administration travel ban, called for screening immigrants who do not fit his preferred profile for integration, and said ICE should target criminal aliens while being pragmatic about status registration and adjustment.
SourceJoel Anabilah-Azumah frames Climate & Energy mainly through infrastructure and energy reliability, supporting a major rebuilding program that includes pipelines and new nuclear power plants. Public sources reviewed did not identify a detailed climate-change plan or position on renewable-energy mandates.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Anabilah-Azumah supports building new nuclear power plants as part of a major infrastructure campaign to replace aging systems.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah supports rebuilding pipelines as part of a broader national infrastructure push.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah supports redirecting resources toward American infrastructure, citing projects such as the Utica Avenue Subway, rather than foreign wars.
SourceIn candidate-profile material, Anabilah-Azumah identified transportation and infrastructure as areas of policy focus and said infrastructure renewal is long overdue in the United States.
SourceJoel Anabilah-Azumah has offered limited public education-specific policy detail. In available questionnaire responses, he took a neutral position on guaranteeing taxpayer-funded public education through college while supporting targeted taxpayer help for student loans in fields the government deems critical, such as doctors and nurses.
Specific Actions & Proposals
In an iVoterGuide questionnaire, Anabilah-Azumah selected "Neutral" on whether taxpayer-funded public education should be guaranteed through college.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah said taxpayers should help pay student loans when borrowers study in government-designated critical fields, giving doctors and nurses as examples.
SourceJoel Anabilah-Azumah’s public-safety positions emphasize gun rights, voluntary armed school personnel, opposition to stop-and-frisk, and a preference for better police-community dialogue. He also frames national security around avoiding new wars and focusing ICE enforcement on criminal conduct rather than broad enforcement sweeps.
Specific Actions & Proposals
Anabilah-Azumah said teachers who want to help defend schools should be allowed to carry concealed handguns voluntarily, with additional training and psychological screening.
SourceIn an op-ed, Anabilah-Azumah opposed a proposal to require concealed-carry applicants to submit social-media passwords, arguing it would infringe Second and Fourth Amendment rights.
SourceAnabilah-Azumah’s candidate profile says he will resist efforts to drag the United States into unnecessary and unwinnable military conflicts and argues the country should not fight new wars.
SourceA 2026 issue summary reports that Anabilah-Azumah opposed stop-and-frisk and called for stronger police-community relationships to lower crime in the district.
SourceBallotpedia
https://ballotpedia.org/New_York's_9th_Congressional_District_election,_2026_(June_23_Republican_primary)Fetched: biography
BallotReady
https://www.ballotready.org/people/joel-anabilah-azumahFetched: biography, education, professional background
Fashion Institute of Technology Athletics
https://fittigers.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster/coaches/joel-anabilah-azumah/110Fetched: location, education, professional background
FEC API
https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidate/H6NY09145/totals/Fetched: totalRaised, totalSpent, cashOnHand
VOTE411 Voter Guide
https://onyourballot.vote411.org/candidate-detail.do?id=73188931Fetched: endorsements
Smarter.Vote
https://smarter.vote/races/ny-house-09-2026/joel-anabilah-azumah/Fetched: endorsements, ratings
Ballotpedia
https://ballotpedia.org/New_York%27s_9th_Congressional_District_election%2C_2026_%28June_23_Republican_primary%29Fetched: endorsements
New York State Board of Elections
https://elections.ny.gov/ballot-certifications-electionsFetched: endorsements
iVoterGuide
https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/32217/race/2157/election/781?culture=en-usFetched: issuePositions
Ballotpedia
https://ballotpedia.org/New_York%27s_9th_Congressional_District_election,_2026_(June_23_Republican_primary)Fetched: issuePositions
Bklyner
https://bklyner.com/joel-anabilah-azumah-arming-teachers-supporting-muslim-ban-not-allowing-transgender-serve-hes-running-congress/Fetched: issuePositions
True Vote candidate profile
https://truevote.us/ballot/midterms/candidate/Joel_Anabilah-AzumahFetched: issuePositions
Smarter.Vote candidate profile
https://smarter.vote/races/ny-house-09-2026/joel-anabilah-azumah/Fetched: issuePositions
PoliticsNY
https://politicsny.com/2018/11/26/op-ed-adams-and-parker-draft-gun-legislation-that-shoots-free-speech/Fetched: issuePositions