Adam Schiff

Adam Schiff is one of the most nationally prominent figures in American politics — a former federal prosecutor, veteran legislator, and lead impeachment manager who has spent nearly three decades in public service and now serves as California's junior United States Senator. His career has taken him from the courtrooms of Los Angeles to the floors of Congress, where he became one of the most recognizable faces of the Democratic Party's resistance to what he viewed as threats to American democracy.

Schiff was born on June 22, 1960, in Framingham, Massachusetts. His father was a clothing salesman and the family ultimately moved to the East Bay — Alamo, California — in search of the California dream. He graduated from Monte Vista High School in Danville, California in 1978, where he played soccer and was both the class salutatorian and the student his peers voted "most likely to succeed." He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Stanford University in 1982, graduating with distinction, and obtained his law degree from Harvard Law School cum laude in 1985.

After law school, Schiff worked summers in his father's lumber yard and as a seasonal firefighter to help pay for school. He then launched his legal career as a federal prosecutor. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles from 1987 to 1993, where he successfully prosecuted a crooked FBI agent who had become a Russian spy and started the first federal environmental crimes unit in Los Angeles, going after polluters and toxic waste dumpers.

In 1996, Schiff was elected to the California State Senate, and when his term began, he was the Senate's youngest member at 36. During his four-year term, he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Juvenile Justice, and the Joint Committee on the Arts. While serving in the State Senate, he also taught political science as a professor at Glendale Community College. He is widely known as the "Father of the Gold Line" for his landmark work to expand Metro rail into the San Gabriel Valley from Pasadena to Azusa.

In 2000, Schiff was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served as a member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the House Appropriations Committee. He also served as Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and as a member of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. His twenty-three years in the House cemented his national profile — particularly his role as Lead Impeachment Manager during the first Senate impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump.

In 2024, Schiff was elected to the United States Senate, defeating fellow Democratic U.S. Representatives Katie Porter and Barbara Lee in the primary and Republican Steve Garvey in the general election. He has served since December 9, 2024, and is next up for reelection in 2030. He serves on the Senate Judiciary, Agriculture, Environment and Public Works, and Small Business Committees.

In the Senate, Schiff has continued his record of democracy defense and legislative productivity. His first legislation in the Senate was a bipartisan bill to expand tax credits for families to harden their homes from natural disasters. He led a July 2025 letter signed by 32 Democratic senators urging that California's Proposition 12 farm animal welfare law be protected in the upcoming farm bill, and in December 2025 authored legislation directing the USDA to develop a national strategy for protein diversification, authorizing $500 million to support plant-based and cultivated meat development. He has also been a leading voice in opposition to the Trump administration's rollback of federal institutions and democratic norms.

Schiff met his wife, Eve Sanderson, on a tennis court in 1990. They married in 1995 and have two children, Alexa and Elijah. An avid movie buff who counts The Big Lebowski among his favorites, he is also a screenwriter, author, and occasional stand-up comedian at a local comedy club — a reminder that behind the grave national profile is a man with a genuine sense of humor and a deep love of California culture.