The congressman from the 9th District is Adam Smith, a Democrat first elected in 1996 who became the Armed Services Committee’s ranking Democrat in December 2010, giving his state added clout on defense matters. Read More

The congressman from the 9th District is Adam Smith, a Democrat first elected in 1996 who became the Armed Services Committee’s ranking Democrat in December 2010, giving his state added clout on defense matters.

Smith grew up in the Sea-Tac area. His father, a baggage handler for United Airlines who was active in the Machinists Union, died when Smith was 17. The family went on welfare. Smith worked his way through Fordham University driving trucks for UPS, and then went to the University of Washington law school. He worked as a lawyer, and then as a Seattle prosecutor, handling drunk-driving and domestic-abuse cases. In 1990, at age 25, he was elected to the state Senate, beating an incumbent Republican by canvassing the district door-to-door.

In 1995, he decided to run against first-term U.S. Rep. Randy Tate, a Republican. The two had similar backgrounds. They were born in the same year to families of modest means, were first elected to office at young ages and were firm believers in grassroots campaigning. But Tate was a religious conservative and a strong supporter of Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, while Smith campaigned as a moderate Democrat, supporting the death penalty and tougher penalties for criminals. He attacked Tate for his support of Gingrich and for backing cuts in Medicare. Tate attacked Smith for his opposition to assigning youthful offenders to adult courts and prisons, and for voting for a tax increase in 1993. This was one of the closest races in the country. In the September all-party primary, Smith led 49%-48%. In November, he won 50%-47%.

In the House, Smith joined the New Democrat Coalition, established a moderate voting record and showed a willingness to take on established interests within his party. He voted to authorize military action in Iraq and sought to improve compensation and other quality-of-life benefits for military personnel. In 2004, he was one of four Democrats who opposed a provision in the USA Patriot Act to bar law enforcement access to library and bookstore records. He joined Republicans in 2011 in voting to extend several key expiring provisions of the controversial anti-terrorism law. He supported the House-passed health care overhaul in 2009, but remained neutral on the final version until the very end in March 2010, finally agreeing to back it after lobbying from President Barack Obama and others.

Smith reportedly joined the Armed Services Committee at the urging of his home-state Democratic colleague Norm Dicks, an influential figure on the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. Smith rose quickly on the panel, winning praise for his work as chairman of two of its subcommittees. He also earned a seat on the Intelligence Committee, further bolstering his credentials on military and foreign affairs issues. When Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., lost his re-election bid in 2010, Smith jumped into the race to succeed Skelton on the panel. Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes of Texas was the early favorite for the job, and California Rep. Loretta Sanchez also got into the race. When the House Democratic Caucus voted, Sanchez and Smith tied at 64 votes apiece, while Reyes got 53. In a two-person runoff, Smith won by 11 votes. Skelton told National Journal in May 2011 that his successor would make an impact: “He is a scholar, he is precise in his judgments, he is a very hard worker and knows the subject matters very, very well.”

Smith has generally supported the Obama administration’s defense policies, though he said after a November 2010 trip to Afghanistan that he remained troubled “about the high cost of our efforts and the challenges we continue to face in developing a reliable partner in the Afghan government.” He said Obama “could have done a better job” in working with Congress in the days before taking military action against Libya in March 2011 as part of a NATO coalition, but still backed the president’s strategy. When the majority Republicans unveiled their fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill in May 2011, he expressed concerns over the bill’s restrictions on the administration’s ability to transfer terrorist detainees and over a provision barring Medicare-eligible retirees from enrolling in one of the military’s health care programs.

Smith’s independence has worked well for him back home. He has won re-election easily, and Republicans have quit targeting this district. In 2008, he chaired Obama’s presidential campaign in Washington state. Smith briefly explored the possibility of taking a job with the Obama administration, but in February 2009, announced that he would keep his seat in the House. He is one of the closest friends in the House of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and after she was shot in January 2011 by a mentally unstable constituent, he visited her congressional district and met with her supporters.