Smith is the representative for Washington’s 9th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 7, 1997. Smith is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
![Photo of Rep. Adam Smith [D-WA9]](/static/legislator-photos/400379-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Smith is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Smith has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 15, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Smith was the primary sponsor of 4 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 6395 (116th): National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021
- H.R. 6628 (115th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4301 Northeast 4th Street in Renton, Washington, as the “James Marshall ‘Jimi’ Hendrix Post Office ...
- H.R. 4401 (111th): To amend the Act of August 9, 1955, to modify a provision relating to leases involving certain Indian tribes.
- H.R. 2115 (107th): To amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the design, planning, and construction of ...
Does 4 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Smith sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Transportation and Public Works (24%) Labor and Employment (15%) Immigration (12%) Armed Forces and National Security (12%) Economics and Public Finance (9%) Social Welfare (9%) Health (9%) International Affairs (9%)
Recent Bills
Some of Smith’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 335: To provide for an exception to a limitation against appointment of persons as ...
- H.R. 9055: To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide funding to ...
- H.R. 8776: Pre-Apprenticeship Wrap-Around Support Services Fund Act of 2020
- H.R. 8767 (116th): 911 Diversion to Unarmed Personnel Act of 2020
- H.R. 8747: Emergency Economic and Workforce System Resiliency Act
- H.R. 7987: TSA Security Threat Assessment Application Modernization Act
- H.R. 7852 (116th): Toxic Exposure Safety Act of 2020
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1997 to Jan 2021, Smith missed 1,132 of 15,679 roll call votes, which is 7.2%. This is much worse than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills