Adam Smith
Smith in 2009
Ranking Member of theHouse Armed Services Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2023
Preceded by	Mike Rogers
In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Buck McKeon
Succeeded by	Mac Thornberry
Chair of theHouse Armed Services Committee
In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2023
Preceded by	Mac Thornberry
Succeeded by	Mike Rogers
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWashington's9th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Randy Tate
Member of theWashington Senate from the33rd district
In office January 14, 1991 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Eleanor Lee
Succeeded by	Julia Patterson
Personal details
Born	David Adam Smith (1965-06-15)June 15, 1965 (age 60) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Sara Bickle-Eldridge ​ ​ (m. 1993)​
Children	2
Education	Fordham University (BA) University of Washington (JD)
Website	House website Campaign website
Smith's voice Smith opening aHouse Armed Services Committee hearing on the FY2022Defense Department budget request. Recorded June 23, 2021

David Adam Smith^[1] (born June 15, 1965)^[2] is an American politician and attorney serving as theU.S. representative forWashington's 9th congressional district. A member of theDemocratic Party, Smith previously served in theWashington State Senate.

A graduate of theUniversity of Washington School of Law, Smith briefly worked as a prosecutor andpro tem judge for the city ofSeattle before entering politics. Smith was elected to the State Senate in 1990; at age 25, he was the youngest state senator in the country. He ran in and won his first congressional race in 1996, and has been reelected 14 times. From 2019 through 2022, he chaired theHouse Armed Services Committee, and is currently the Ranking Member. Smith is a member of theNew Democrat Coalition and theCongressional Progressive Caucus. He is the dean of Washington's House delegation.

Born inWashington, D.C. and raised inSeaTac,Washington, Smith was adopted as an infant by Lelia June (née Grant) and his maternal uncle Ben Martin Smith III.^[3] He attended Bow Lake Elementary and Chinook Middle School before graduating fromTyee High School in 1983. In high school, Smith participated in theClose Up Washington civic education program. His father, who worked forUnited Airlines as a ramp serviceman and was active in theMachinists' Union, died when Smith was 19.^[4]

Smith attendedWestern Washington University inBellingham for a year before graduating fromFordham University in 1987 with aBachelor of Arts degree inpolitical science. He received aJuris Doctor from theUniversity of Washington in 1990. He worked his way through college by loading trucks forUnited Parcel Service.^[2]

After law school, Smith worked as a private practice attorney with Cromwell, Mendoza & Belur. From 1993 to 1995, he served as a prosecutor for Seattle.^[3][5] In 1996, he worked temporarily as apro tem judge.^[3][5]

Smith served in theWashington State Senate from 1991 to 1997.^[5] He was 25 years old at the time of his election in 1990, defeating a 13-year incumbentRepublican,Eleanor Lee, to become the nation's youngeststate senator.^[5]

Smith won his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996 by defeating another incumbent Republican, Rep.Randy Tate, with 50.4 percent of the vote. He has never faced another contest nearly that close.

Smith ran for a second term and defeated Republican Ron Taber in the general election, winning 65% of the vote.^[6]

Smith ran for a third term and defeated Republican Chris Vance in the general election, winning 61.7% of the vote.^[7]

Smith was reelected for a fourth term.

Smith was reelected for a fifth term.

In 2006, Smith won his sixth term in Congress against Republican Steve Cofchin, with 65.7% of the vote to Cofchin's 34.3%.^[8]

In 2008, Smith won a seventh term in the House, defeating James Postma, a 74-year-old retired engineer running on a pro-nuclear power platform, with 65% of the vote.^[9]

Smith was reelected for an eighth term.

For his first seven terms, Smith represented a district that straddledInterstate 5, fromRenton throughTacoma to just outside ofOlympia. Smith's district was significantly redrawn after the2010 census. It absorbed much of southeast Seattle as well as most of theEastside. As a result, it became the state's first with a majority of residents who are racial or ethnic minorities.^[10] It is also the state's second-most Democratic district; only the neighboring7th district, which covers the rest of Seattle, is more Democratic.

Smith was reelected for a ninth term.

Smith was reelected for a tenth term.

Smith was reelected for an eleventh term.

Smith was reelected for a twelfth term.

Smith ran for a thirteenth term and defeated Republican Doug Basler in the general election, winning 74.1% of the vote.^[11]

Smith ran for a fourteenth term and defeated Republican Doug Basler in the general election for a second time, winning 71.6% of the vote.^[12]

Smith ran for a fifteenth term and defeated Democrat Melissa Chaudhry in the general election, winning 65.4% of the vote.^[13]

Smith has been a long-time member in moderate "New Democrats" organizations and once chaired itspolitical action committee.^[14]

In April 2007, Smith supportedBarack Obama in the2008 U.S. presidential election.^[15] He also appeared onHardball with Chris Matthews speaking for Obama. The same year, he also appeared onThe Colbert Report, in the show's 434-part series known as "Better Know A District".^{[citation needed]}

On July 8, 2024, Smith called forJoe Biden to withdraw from the2024 United States presidential election.^[16] Smith voted with PresidentJoe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the117th Congress, according to aFiveThirtyEight analysis.^[17]

On October 10, 2002, Smith was among the 81 Democratic members of the House to vote to authorize theinvasion of Iraq.^[18] In March 2012, he said that U.S. troops had done "amazing work" inAfghanistan and that it was "time to bring the troops home".^[19]

Smith voted against theProtect America Act of 2007, which has been criticized for violating Americans' civil liberties by allowing wiretapping without issued warrants.^[20] But in 2008, he voted for a similar bill, the FISA Amendment Act of 2008 (FAA), reauthorizing many of the provisions in the expired Protect America Act, leading critics like the ACLU to call it "an unconstitutional bill that would significantly modify the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act", granting expansive new monitoring powers to the executive branch with very little court oversight. The FAA also ensured the dismissal of all pending cases against telecommunication companies for their previous illegal spying on American citizens on behalf of the Executive Branch.^[21][22][23] Smith also voted for the 2001Patriot Act and to extend theBush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.^[24]

On December 16, 2010, Smith defeatedSilvestre Reyes andLoretta Sanchez to become the Ranking Member of theHouse Armed Services Committee after ChairmanIke Skelton was defeated for reelection. In the first round, Sanchez and Smith earned 64 votes, and Reyes earned 53. In the runoff, Smith defeated Sanchez by 11 votes.^[25]

In 2011, recognized for his work in fighting global poverty, Smith became only the second member of Congress selected for theBorgen Project's board of directors.^[26] The same year, he argued against cuts that could "jeopardize our national security" and leave the U.S. "more vulnerable to nuclear terrorism".^[27]

In 2001, Congress passed theAuthorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF),^[28] which gave the president authority to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against those who committed and aided theSeptember 11 attacks. While this power has been rarely used to detain persons in the U.S., Smith introduced a bill to ensure that anyone detained on U.S. soil under the AUMF has access to due process and the federal court system.^[29] The bill also prohibits military commissions and indefinite detention for people detained in the U.S. and would ensure the detainees constitutional rights.^[29]

Smith and RepresentativeMac Thornberry co-sponsored an amendment to the fiscal 2013 defense spending bill reversing previous bans on disseminating Defense and State Department propaganda in the U.S., reversing theSmith–Mundt Act of 1948 and the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1987, designed to protect U.S. audiences from government misinformation campaigns.^[30] The bill passed on May 18, 2012, 299 to 120.^[31]

Smith, concerned about the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, tried to contact Joe Biden in advance, without success; however, he did get a call from Biden after he criticised the Afghanistan withdrawal—the only one he got from Biden in four years.^[32]

In September 2025, a bipartisan delegation led by Smith visited China and met withPremier of ChinaLi Qiang on September 21.^[33] This marked the first visit to China by a U.S. House of Representatives delegation since 2019.^[34][35]

In December 2023, Smith introduced the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act of 2023 to the House. This legislation would require hedge funds to sell at least 10% of the single-family homes they own yearly over 10 years. After this period, hedge funds will be banned from owning single-family homes.^[36]

• Smith voted to approve theinvasion of Iraq.^[18]
• Smith voted to approve theCyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA)^[37]
• Smith co-sponsored theSmith–Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, which allowed domestic dissemination of U.S. public diplomacy information.^[38]
• Smith voted against an amendment restricting theNational Security Agency from collecting phone records of Americans suspected of no crimes without a warrant.^[39]

• Committee on Armed Services (Ranking Member)

• 21st Century Healthcare Caucus
• American Sikh Congressional Caucus
• Black Maternal Health Caucus^[40]
• European Union Caucus
• Goods Movement Caucus
• Intellectual Property Caucus (Co-chair)
• United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus^[41]
• Waterways Caucus
• New Democrat Coalition^[14]
• Congressional Progressive Caucus^[42]
• Congressional Arts Caucus^[43]
• Congressional Equality Caucus^[44]
• Afterschool Caucuses^[45]
• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus^[46]
• Congressional Motorcycle Caucus^[47]
• Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus^[48]
• U.S.-Japan Caucus^[49]
• Medicare for All Caucus
• Congressional Coalition on Adoption (co-chair)^[50]
• Rare Disease Caucus^[51]
• Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans^[52]
• Congressional Taiwan Caucus^[53]

In 1993, Smith married Spokane native Sara Bickle-Eldridge, a graduate of theUniversity of Washington andSeattle University School of Law. Their daughter was born in July 2000, followed by their son in June 2003.^[3] He is anEpiscopalian.^[76]

Smith has talked openly about his struggles withanxiety,depression, andchronic pain.^[77] He wrote about it at length in his 2023 memoirLost and Broken: My Journey Back from Chronic Pain and Crippling Anxiety.^[78]

• 2006 United States House of Representatives elections in Washington

• The Almanac of American Politics 2004. Washington, D.C.: National Journal, 2003.
• Pierce County Official Local Voters' Pamphlet (Pierce County Auditor, 2012).

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAdam Smith (politician).

• Congressman Adam Smith official U.S. House website
• Adam Smith for Congress

• Biography at theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at theFederal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at theLibrary of Congress
• Profile atVote Smart
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1965 births
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