John Adams | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Donley Adams (1973-11-02)November 2, 1973 (age 51)[1] Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education | Virginia Military Institute (BS) University of Virginia (JD) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Lisa |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Adams political family |
| Military Service | |
| Service | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1996–2000[2] |
John Donley Adams (born November 2, 1973) is an American lawyer fromVirginia. He is a partner atMcGuire Woods, where he chairs the Government Investigations Department and co-chairs the Appellate Team. Adams ran for Attorney General of Virginia in2017 and received the Republican nomination, but was defeated in the general election by incumbentDemocratMark Herring. Adams is a member of theAdams political family.
Adams is the youngest of four brothers. His grandfather, Rev. Theodore F. Adams (1898–1980),[3] led theFirst Baptist Church ofRichmond (1936–1968), and theBaptist World Alliance (1955-1960). He was born into the prominentAdams family and is the third cousin, seven times removed, of US PresidentJohn Adams.[4] After graduation fromMidlothian High School, Adams attended theVirginia Military Institute (VMI) and became executive officer of the VMII Corps of Cadets.[4] Adams graduated from VMI as a distinguished graduate with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1996.[5]
After commissioning out of VMI as an ensign in theU.S. Navy, Adams served two tours of duty, from 1996 to 2000, including deployment toIraq during the decade-longOperation Southern Watch. Adams lived inPearl Harbor, Hawaii, as well asVirginia Beach during his military service.[4] Upon leaving the Navy in 2000, Adams attended theUniversity of Virginia School of Law inCharlottesville, where he became managing editor of the law review.[6] After graduation, heclerked for JudgeDavid B. Sentelle of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2003–2004.[4] After working at Hunton & Williams, LLP, he clerked for JusticeClarence Thomas at theUnited States Supreme Court in 2006–2007.[6]
Adams joined theOffice of White House Counsel in 2007 as an associate counsel in the administration of PresidentGeorge W. Bush, and lived inArlington, Virginia.[7] He dealt with matters arising from theU.S. Department of Defense andU.S. State Department. In 2008, Adams returned to Richmond, serving as an assistantU.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Among his cases, Adams prosecuted John W. Forbes, a former state finance secretary who pleaded guilty and in late 2010 was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison for diverting about $4 million of a $5 million grant from the state Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission (which had intended to improve literacy inSouthside Virginia and southwestern Virginia) to shell companies he controlled and his personal benefit.[8]
In 2010 Adams joinedMcGuire Woods as a partner, and has conducted a private legal practice there since, other than his leave of absence during his Attorney General run. He heads the firm's government investigations and white-collar litigation department and co-chairs the appellate team, where according to theRichmond Times-Dispatch, most of his cases have concerned matters in states other than Virginia.[4][9] His elder brother Theodore F. "Tray" Adams III works for McGuire Woods Consulting as senior vice president of state government relations. In 2013, Adams led the successful defense of a bank executive in a ten-week jury trial brought by the Department of Justice, while four other defendants were convicted. In 2014, Adams was appointed by the Fourth Circuit asamicus counsel inU.S. v. Williams, to defend the decision of a U.S. District Judge concerning certain provisions of theU.S. Sentencing Guidelines with which both the U.S. Attorney's office and defendant disagreed (as ultimately did the appellate panel).[10]
Adams filed two successful briefs in cases in the United States Supreme Court opposing parts of theAffordable Care Act as inconsistent with theReligious Freedom Restoration Act. In 2014, representing 15 members of Congress, Adams filed anamicus brief concerning the law's contraception mandate, which the Supreme Court ultimately struck down inBurwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. The following year Adams filed an amicus brief on behalf of an order of nuns in one of the cases consolidated inZubik v. Burwell, which the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately sent down to the relevant appellate courts after the death of JusticeAntonin Scalia and further briefing.[11]
A Republican, Adams ran forAttorney General of Virginia against incumbent DemocratMark Herring in 2017.[4] He secured the Republican nomination after the initial frontrunner, Del.Rob Bell, withdrew from the race and Chuck Smith failed to qualify for the primary ballot.[4][12]
TheVirginia State Bar organized a debate between the two attorney general candidates in Virginia Beach on June 19, 2017.[13] Their final debate was hosted by theLoudounChamber of Commerce on October 20, 2017.[14]
Adams portrayed himself as a classic conservative.[15] The majority of Adams' campaign funds were donated through the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA).[14][16][17][18][19] In March 2017, RAGA abandoned its previous agreement not to target the other party's incumbents in the general election.[20] The Democratic Attorneys General group donated $1.75 million to Herring, thus becoming the largest donor to his campaign.[14]
Both candidates claimed to want to remove politics from the office, but by Labor Day Weekend, televised attack ads had begun.[21] As the election neared and absentee voting began in Virginia, such ads increased.[22][23] The Campus Election Engagement Project published a nonpartisan list of their respective campaign positions.[24]
Herring defeated Adams on Election Day, by a margin of 168,551 votes (6.6% of the total vote).[25][26]
Adams and his wife Lisa have four sons.[11]