A former Green Beret who served 27 months in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Special Forces
operator is seeking the 47 th House seat in Livingston County.
Adam Smiddy says his time hunting insurgents taught him “what real leadership is, what
the freedom we fight for costs, and what it means to be an American.”
“I am running to disrupt the well-established and connected. We are now living through
another economic collapse, and the response for working people is not proportionate to the value we deliver to the American and Michigan economies,” he said.
Smiddy, the only Democrat seeking the seat, said the pandemic highlights the failures of
our state and nation in the areas of health care, education, and tax fairness.
“Many of us are at risk of losing all that we have worked for, so we are ready to further
risk our lives and futures even at the cost of our safety. While some of us have enough savings to ride out this crisis, many do not. Some of us are able to work from home, but others in Livingston County can’t even stream a movie, video chat with friends, or get an email with an attachment,” he said.
“This deficiency also highlights our broad disparities in education. Every child should be
learning online today, but in many parts of our county they are unable to do so because as a state we haven’t invested in our broadband infrastructure. If we fail to act quickly, our rural
communities will continue to see economic declines.”
As a member of the military, Smiddy said he was lucky to have excellent health care
coverage that is better than what most American workers have. He learned how lucky he was
when he left the military and had to depend on the Healthy Michigan Medicaid expansion when his studies at the Medical School in the Caribbean were interrupted by the Zika virus outbreak of 2016.
Smiddy said he will protect that social safety net for the millions of Michiganders who are having their lives turned upside down by another virus.
“I have lived this life of uncertainty myself and understand the toll it takes, so you know I
will fight for you,” he said.
Smiddy also promised to fight for fairer taxes, noting that Michigan residents paid 10
times more in taxes than corporations did last year, while receiving only marginal benefits.
Smiddy graduated from Brighton High school, earned a bachelor’s degree from Eastern
Michigan University and master’s from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
Motivated by the Sept. 11 attacks, he joined the U.S. Army in 2004, earned his Green Beret, and deployed around the world, including more than 27 months in Iraq and Afghanistan leading Special Forces hunting for insurgents.
From 2017 to 2018, he was director of Veterans Services for the County.
Smiddy lives in Howell with his wife, Renee, and their two children, who attend Howell
Public Schools.
People wishing more information may visit Smiddy’s website adamsmiddy.com and his
Facebook page, or email him at adam@adamsmiddy.com.
The 47 th District includes the city of Howell and the townships of Cohoctah, Conway,
Deerfield, Handy, Hartland, Howell, Iosco, Marion, Oceola, Tyrone, and Unadilla.
(Paid for by Livingston County Democratic Executive Committee, 8028 Grand River, Woodland Plaza Suite 7, Brighton, MI 48114. Labor donated.)