Walsh then occupied positions through which he focused on promoting voucher programs for education. He served as the executive director of the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund, which distributed high-school scolarships; and he worked on the same issue for a free-market think thank called The Heartland Institute.

Finally, Walsh got involved in private-quity funding. He started working at Ravenswood Advisors, an investment-banking group.

Previous Runs for Office

In 1996, Walsh challenged 23-term Democratic Rep. Sidney Yates (D) in Illinois' 9th District. The 34-year old challenger accused the 87-year old incumbent of neglecting his constituents and biked around the district asking voters if they had seen Yates. Despite the National Republican Congressional Committee's decision to get involved in the race, Yates crushed Walsh 63 to 37 percent.

Two years later, Walsh lost a challenge to state Rep. Jeffrey Schoenberg (D), 62 to 38 percent.

2010 House Race

In 2010, Walsh ran for Congress in Illinois' 8th Congressional District, a swing seat covering the northern Chicago suburbs occupied by three-term Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean. Walsh campaigned as a tea-party candidate and emphasized staunchly conservative views on fiscal and social matters. "I'm a tea party conservative first and a Republican second," he said.

In February 2010, he won a six-way primary with 34 percentof the vote; his closest opponent received 25 percent. National Republicans made it clear they didn't believe Walsh could defeat Bean, with a NRCC member going on the record regretting his victory in the primary.

Difficulties soon piled up for Walsh. It was revealed that he had gone into foreclosure on his Evanston condo and that he had faced several liens for unpaid state and federal taxes in the 1990s. And his campaign appeared to implode when top staffers resigned and a former campaign manager sued for unpaid compensation.

While Walsh managed to pull his campaign together, he remained a heavy underdog entering the final stretch of the campaign. As of the end of September, he only had $7,130 in the bank, while Bean had $925,000 - a disparity that looked all the tougher to overcome when national Republicans' continued to refuse to intervene in the contest.

Yet, Walsh benefited from heavy support from grassroots volunteers and tea-party activists. On November 2nd, he rode the Republican wave that submerged much of the country and pulled one of the night's most stunning upsets when he grabbed a narrow lead against Bean. The margin was so tight that Bean did not concede until November 16th, when a final count sealed Walsh's victory by just 292 votes.

"How in God's name did a guy win without any money or party support?" Walsh asked, before crediting the strength of grassroots politics and his conservative messaging.

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