Tenure

Smith served in the Washington State Senate from 1991 to 1997. He was 25 years old at the time of his election in 1990, defeating a 13-year incumbent Republican, Eleanor Lee, to become the nation's youngest state senator. Smith won his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996 by defeating another incumbent Republican, Randy Tate. Smith has been reelected 12 times since without serious opposition, as what was originally drawn as a "fair fight" district turned into a fairly safe Democratic seat.

For his first seven terms, Smith represented a district that straddled Interstate 5, from Renton through Tacoma to just outside of Olympia. Smith's district was significantly redrawn after the 2010 census. It absorbed much of southeast Seattle as well as most of the Eastside. As a result, it became the state's first with a majority of residents who are racial or ethnic minorities.^[4] It is also the state's second-most Democratic district; only the neighboring 7th district, which covers the rest of Seattle, is more Democratic. For the 2012 election, Smith moved from his longtime home in Tacoma to Bellevue.

Adam Smith and Barack Obama at a campaign rally at Seattle's KeyArena, February 8, 2008.

Smith has been a leader in moderate "New Democrats" organizations. He chairs the political action committee of the New Democrat Coalition.^[5]

On October 10, 2002, Smith was among the 81 Democratic members of the House to vote to authorizing the invasion of Iraq.^[6] In March 2012, he said that U.S. troops had done "amazing work" in Afghanistan and that it was "time to bring the troops home".^[7]

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 April 2007, Smith supported Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.^[9] He also appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews speaking for Obama. The same year, he also appeared on The Colbert Report, in the show's 434-part series known as "Better Know A District".

Smith voted against the Protect America Act of 2007, which has been criticized for violating Americans' civil liberties by allowing wiretapping without issued warrants.^[10] 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.^[11][12][13] Smith also voted for the 2001 Patriot Act and to extend the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.^[14]

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.^[15]

On December 16, 2010, Smith defeated Silvestre Reyes and Loretta Sanchez to become the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee after Chairman Ike Skelton was defeated for reelection. In the first round, Sanchez and Smith earned 64 votes with Reyes earning 53. In the runoff, Smith defeated Sanchez by 11 votes.^[16]

In 2011, recognized for his work in fighting global poverty, Smith became only the second member of Congress selected for the Borgen Project's board of directors.^[17] The same year, he argued against cuts that could "jeopardize our national security" and leave the U.S. "more vulnerable to nuclear terrorism".^[18]

Smith as a representative during the 109th Congress

In 2001, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF),^[19] which gave the president authority to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against those who committed and aided the September 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.^[20] The bill also prohibits military commissions and indefinite detention for people detained in the U.S. and affirms that any trial proceedings "shall have all the due process as provided for under the Constitution".

Smith and Representative Mac 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 the Smith–Mundt Act of 1948 and the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1987, designed to protect U.S. audiences from government misinformation campaigns.^[21] The bill passed on May 18, 2012, 299 to 120.^[22]

Smith voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.^[23]

Committee assignments

• Committee on Armed Services (Ranking Member)

Caucus memberships

• 21st Century Healthcare Caucus
• American Sikh Congressional Caucus
• European Union Caucus
• Goods Movement Caucus
• Intellectual Property Caucus (Co-chair)
• United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus^[27]
• Waterways Caucus
• New Democrat Coalition^[5]
• Congressional Progressive Caucus^[28]
• Congressional Arts Caucus^[29]
• Afterschool Caucuses^[30]
• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus^[31]
• U.S.-Japan Caucus^[32]
• Medicare for All Caucus