John Adams (Virginia)
John Adams | |
|---|---|
| File:John Adams for Attorney General.jpg | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 7, 1961 Chesterfield County, Virginia |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Virginia Military Institute University of Virginia School of Law |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1996-2000 |
John D. Adams is a Virginia lawyer and politician. He is currently the Republican nominee for Attorney General of Virginia in the 2017 election.
Early life and military service[edit]
Adams was born in Chesterfield County and raised in Midlothian. His father was a Korean War veteran who worked for a telephone company, and his mother was the daughter of a Kentucky coal miner.[1] He attended Midlothian High School and then went to the Virginia Military Institute, where he served as executive officer of the VMI Corps of Cadets.[1] After graduating from VMI in 1996, he was commissioned as a United States Naval Officer.[2] During his service in the Navy, he was stationed at Pearl Harbor and in Virginia Beach, and deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Southern Watch.[3]
Legal career[edit]
Adams left the Navy in 2000 and enrolled at the University of Virginia School of Law using his GI Bill benefits, and served as the managing editor of the Virginia Law Review.[2] After obtaining his law degree, Adams became a law clerk for Judge David Sentelle of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals from 2003 to 2004, and then clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas at the United States Supreme Court.[3] He then joined the White House an associate counsel under President George W. Bush from 2007 to 2008. In 2008, he became a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney's office in the Eastern District of Virginia.[3] He prosecuted John Forbes, a former state finance official who was convicted in 2010 of defrauding the state tobacco commission.[1]
In 2010, he joined the law firm McGuire Woods. While in private practice, he performed pro bono service on behalf of clients including 15 members of Congress in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, and the Little Sisters of the Poor in Zubik v. Burwell.[3]
Run for attorney general[edit]
Adams announced his candidacy for the 2017 election for Attorney General of Virginia in January 2016.[4] He went on unpaid leave from his law firm to join the race.[1] He was initially one of three candidates for the Republican nomination along with Delegate Rob Bell and Virginia Beach attorney Chuck Smith, but after Bell withdrew and Smith failed to qualify for the primary ballot, Adams received the Republican nomination on March 31, 2017.[5] Adams is challenging incumbent attorney general Mark Herring.
Adams says that he was motivated to run for attorney general because he believed Herring has politicized the office.[1] He argues that Herring does not respect the rule of law.[6] He pointed to Herring's failure to defend the state's voter ID, right to work, and marriage laws in court, saying, "We have an attorney general who’s not enforcing or defending the laws of Virginia."[1] Adams pledged that if elected he would "take the politics out of the office and treat it the way it’s meant to be treated", "provide the same legal advice to a Democratic governor as I would to a Republican governor," and to "not substitute [his] judgment for the will of the people."[3]
Personal life[edit]
Adams and his wife Lisa met in high school, and live in Chesterfield County with their four sons.[7] Adams is a distant relative of the second President of the United States, John Adams.[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 John Adams, the political opposite of Attorney General Mark Herring, wants his job (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Meet John (johnadamsforva.com)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Meet John Adams, the presumptive Republican nominee for Virginia Attorney General (Fairfax County Times)
- ↑ Chesterfield native announces bid for VA attorney general (NBC12)
- ↑ John Adams is presumptive Republican nominee for Virginia Attorney General (Washington Post)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Candidate for Va. AG wants to take politics out of the office. Sound familiar? (Washington Post)
- ↑ JOHN ADAMS ANNOUNCES BID FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL
External links[edit]
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