| Adam Smith was born on June 15, 1965, in Washington, D.C. Adam was raised in SeaTac, Washington where his father, Ben, worked as a ramp serviceman at SeaTac Airport and was active in the local Machinists' Union. His mother, Leila, stayed at home, raising Adam and his two brothers. Adam attended Bow Lake Elementary, Chinook Middle School, and Tyee High School, graduating from Tyee in 1983.
After a year at Western Washington University, Adam transferred to Fordham University, where he worked his way through college loading trucks for United Parcel Service and graduated in 1987 with a degree in Political Science. Following his graduation, Adam attended the University Of Washington School Of Law, and earned his law degree in 1990. He later worked in both private and public practice, first as a lawyer at Cromwell, Mendoza and Belur in 1992, and then as a prosecutor for the City of Seattle from 1993-1995. As a prosecutor, Adam focused on drunk driving and domestic violence cases, and in 1996, went on to work as a judge pro tempore.
During his final year at UW, Adam decided to run for the State Senate in the 33rd Legislative District, where he grew up. He campaigned door to door, eventually doorbelling the entire district twice and defeating the 16 year incumbent in the 1990 election. When he took office in January 1991, Adam was 25 years old and the youngest State Senator in the country. While in the State Senate, Adam served on the Education and Law and Justice Committees, and served as Chair of the Law and Justice Committee from 1993-1997. Despite the strong Republican tide in 1994, Adam was re-elected to the State Senate in 1994 and his victory helped the Democrats retain control of the State Senate by one seat. During his time in the State Senate, Adam developed a reputation for having a thoughtful and common sense approach to governance.
The middle and working-class families no longer have access to the same opportunities that they did just decades ago, and these inequities in our economy have been exacerbated by the economic recession as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A central driver of this "squeezing out" effect is income inequality, which is now as high as it's been since the 1930s. Adam's top priority is to encourage broad-based economic opportunity by ensuring all Americans have access to a high-quality education and job-training opportunities, building a stronger transportation infrastructure, reforming our tax code, and supporting social programs that provide a bridge for struggling families to get back to work. These efforts are necessary to restore the American Dream with a pathway to a middle class life for American families.
Adam also understands the importance of passing comprehensive immigration reform. He has been a strong voice in Congress advocating for the House of Representatives to pass legislation that creates a pathway to citizenship. For too long our immigration system has been broken and it continues to rip families apart. Adam has also been leader in developing new legislation to reform deportation and detention policies.
Adam serves as Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, where he is a strong advocate for our military personnel and their families. Adam is also committed to providing our military personnel with the best equipment available to carry out their current and future missions while ensuring that the Pentagon spends taxpayer dollars in the most efficient and effective manner. This includes carefully examining our current policies and working to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse.
Having served on the House Armed Services Committee since he started in Congress, Adam formerly chaired the Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces (ALF), which had jurisdiction over all Army and nearly all Air Force acquisition programs. Prior to serving as Chair of ALF, Adam chaired the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities subcommittee, which oversaw the United States Special Operations Forces and counter-terrorism policy, among other critical areas. Adam has also previously served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Given his current and previous committee assignments and extensive travel, Adam has unique insights into today's foremost national security issues throughout the Middle East, including the war in Afghanistan, as well as Northern Africa and our larger efforts to stop the spread of violent extremist groups and their ideology around the globe.
Adam sees a clear need to reform our foreign assistance and improve these two pillars of national security that have been under-resourced and underutilized for too long. He has supported efforts to reform American foreign assistance, introduced legislation to address global poverty, and created the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance (CCEFA) with former Congressman Ander Crenshaw. In the 116th Congress, Congressman Smith now co-chairs the Caucus with Congressman Ted Yoho (R-FL). The Caucus has been expanded to the Senate under the leadership of Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Chris Coons (D- DE).
In 1993, Adam married Sara Bickle-Eldridge, a graduate of the University of Washington and Seattle University School of Law. Their daughter, Kendall Charlotte, graduated from the University of Washington in 2022; their son, Jack Evers, is a student at Washington State University. Both Adam and Sara are involved in their community and their children's schools, with their highlights being Adam's stint as a recreational soccer coach and Sara's two terms as PTA President. |