Adam Smith Bio
David Adam Smith (born June 15, 1965) is an American politician and attorney serving as the U.S. representative for Washington’s 9th congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, he has held his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997 and currently serves as the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Before entering Congress, Smith practiced as a prosecutor and briefly served as a pro tem judge in Seattle. He also spent six years in the Washington State Senate, where he was the youngest state senator in the country at the time of his election in 1990. A graduate of the University of Washington School of Law, Smith is also a member of the New Democrat Coalition and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and he is the dean of Washington’s House delegation.
Early Life and Background
David Adam Smith was born on June 15, 1965, in Washington, D.C., and was raised in SeaTac, Washington. He was adopted as an infant by Leila June (née Grant) and her brother, Ben Martin Smith III, Smith’s maternal uncle, who raised him as his own son. His adoptive father worked as a ramp serviceman for United Airlines and was active in the Machinists’ Union, passing away when Smith was 19 years old.
Smith attended Bow Lake Elementary and Chinook Middle School before graduating from Tyee High School in 1983. As a high school student, he participated in the Close Up Washington civic education program, an early experience that helped shape his interest in public service. To help pay for his education, he worked loading trucks for United Parcel Service.
After high school, Smith spent a year at Western Washington University in Bellingham before transferring to Fordham University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1987. He then attended the University of Washington School of Law, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1990.
Path to U.S. Politics
Following law school, Smith joined the Seattle law firm Cromwell, Mendoza & Belur as a private practice attorney. In 1993, he became a prosecutor for the city of Seattle, a position he held for two years. In 1996, he briefly worked as a pro tem judge in the Seattle municipal court system, gaining additional courtroom experience before entering elected office.
Smith’s political career began in 1990, when, at the age of 25, he defeated a 13-year Republican incumbent, Eleanor Lee, to win a seat in the Washington State Senate. He became the youngest state senator in the country at that time and served in the state legislature from 1991 to 1997. In 1996, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives and won, setting the stage for a long career in Congress.
Adam Smith Career
Early Career (1997–2006)
Smith was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996 by narrowly defeating incumbent Republican Randy Tate with 50.4 percent of the vote. He was sworn in to represent Washington’s 9th congressional district in January 1997 and quickly established himself as a moderate voice within the Democratic caucus. He joined the New Democrat Coalition, an organization he would later lead as chair of its political action committee.
Over his first several terms, Smith built a reputation for working across the aisle on defense and national security issues. He won reelection multiple times, including a 65 percent victory over Republican Ron Taber in 1998 and a 61.7 percent win against Republican Chris Vance in 2000. In 2006, he won his sixth term by defeating Republican Steve Cofchin with 65.7 percent of the vote.
House Armed Services Breakthrough (2007–2018)
Smith became a leading voice on the House Armed Services Committee during the late 2000s, taking strong positions on military readiness and civil liberties. In October 2002, he was among 81 Democratic members who voted to authorize the use of military force in Iraq, a decision he later revisited as the conflict continued. In March 2012, he said U.S. troops had done “amazing work” in Afghanistan and that it was “time to bring the troops home.”
In December 2010, Smith defeated Silvestre Reyes and Loretta Sanchez to become the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee after Chairman Ike Skelton lost his reelection bid. He also worked on civil liberties issues, voting against the Protect America Act of 2007, and later authoring legislation to ensure due process for individuals detained on U.S. soil under the Authorization for Use of Military Force. In 2011, he became only the second member of Congress selected to serve on the Borgen Project’s board of directors in recognition of his work on global poverty.
Smith also partnered with Representative Mac Thornberry to co-sponsor an amendment to the fiscal 2013 defense spending bill that reversed the Smith–Mundt Act of 1948 and the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1987, lifting long-standing restrictions on the domestic dissemination of State and Defense Department propaganda. The amendment passed the House on May 18, 2012, by a vote of 299 to 120.
Ranking Member Era (2019–Present)
Smith chaired the House Armed Services Committee from 2019 through 2022, one of the most powerful committee posts in Congress. After Republicans took the House majority in the 2022 elections, he transitioned to the role of Ranking Member, the top Democrat on the committee. He has continued to focus on defense policy, military readiness, and oversight of the Pentagon.
In July 2024, Smith publicly called for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election. He later expressed concern about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, noting that he had tried to reach Biden beforehand without success. In September 2025, Smith led a bipartisan congressional delegation to China, meeting with Premier Li Qiang on September 21 in the first visit to China by a U.S. House delegation since 2019.
Notable Events and Milestones
Among Smith’s most notable achievements was his election in 2010 as Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, a position he won by just 11 votes over Loretta Sanchez in a runoff. He has been reelected to Congress 14 times since his initial 1996 victory and represents one of the most Democratic districts in Washington state. His 2023 memoir, Lost and Broken: My Journey Back from Chronic Pain and Crippling Anxiety, drew on his personal experience with anxiety and depression to advocate for greater mental health awareness.
Adam Smith Career Wins
Adam Smith has won 15 consecutive elections to the U.S. House of Representatives, beginning with his initial victory in 1996. His winning streak includes comfortable double-digit margins in nearly every contest since his first, narrow 0.8-point win against incumbent Randy Tate.
Congressional Election Highlights
Smith’s first congressional victory in 1996 was his closest, as he edged out Republican Randy Tate with 50.4 percent of the vote. He followed that with decisive wins in subsequent cycles, including 65 percent against Ron Taber in 1998, 61.7 percent against Chris Vance in 2000, and 65.7 percent against Steve Cofchin in 2006. In 2020, he defeated Republican Doug Basler with 74.1 percent of the vote, and in 2022, he won a 65.4 percent victory over Democrat Melissa Chaudhry.
Other Wins & Achievements
Before his time in Congress, Smith won election to the Washington State Senate in 1990 at the age of 25, becoming the youngest state senator in the country at that time. He served in the state senate from 1991 to 1997 before moving to the U.S. House. In 2010, he won a competitive internal election to become the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and in 2019, he was elevated to chair the committee, a position he held until 2022.
Adam Smith Family
Family Background and Adoption
Smith was born in Washington, D.C., and was adopted as an infant by Leila June (née Grant) and her brother, Ben Martin Smith III. He was raised in SeaTac, Washington, in a household shaped by his adoptive parents’ commitment to public service. His father worked for United Airlines as a ramp serviceman and was active in the Machinists’ Union, passing away when Smith was 19.
Personal Life
In 1993, Smith married Sara Bickle-Eldridge, a Spokane native and graduate of the University of Washington and Seattle University School of Law. The couple has two children: a daughter born in July 2000 and a son born in June 2003. Smith is an Episcopalian and has spoken openly about his experiences with anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, topics he addressed in his 2023 memoir Lost and Broken.