Later Tuesday night, Adam Cook will find out whether he has earned a seat among the nation’s powerful lawmakers.
Cook, a 1999 College graduate, is running to represent Virginia’s First District in the House of Representatives. In a district that hasn’t voted a Democrat into the House since the 1970s, Cook is facing an uphill battle against incumbent Rob Wittman. But the former Quaker isn’t backing down.
“It’s a tough district for a Democrat. It’s been in Republican hands for a long time,” he said. “But I think we have the best shot a Democrat has had here for a long time.”
An Air Force veteran who has served in Afghanistan, Cook is fighting for a seat in a district with a large population of veterans, Cook has focused his campaign on veterans’ issues and avoiding cuts to national defense, which he believes could disproportionately impact his district. But should he be elected, Cook has other issues he would tackle in Congress — including making college affordable.
“As a pastor’s kid from a small church with five younger siblings, my parents had no ability to pay my way through school,” he said. “I’m a big supporter of Pell Grants, federally-subsidized student loans and work study, all of which I used to graduate from Penn without a whole lot of debt. I want to make sure those opportunities are there for the next generation of college students, too.”
Politics and the Palestra
When Cook was paying for college over a decade ago, he never thought he would eventually end up running for public office. Some of his friends, though, saw Cook as a political junkie at Penn and are not surprised that he is pursuing this path later in life.
“I can’t tell you that I’m surprised at all that he ended up running for office,” said Alex Barfield, a 1999 College graduate who was Cook’s roommate for three years. “I don’t think it’s something we talked about in college, but if you looked at what he wanted to do with his life, I think that’s something that would fit with that framework.”
Politics after Penn
Leading up to the election, The Daily Pennsylvanian will be profiling alumni who have influential roles in politics today.
Others in the series
11/4/12: Penn graduate instrumental in political campaigns
11/2/12: Penn grad goes from writing comedy to writing budgets
10/31/12: Penn alum Howard Marlowe lobbies for change in D.C.
10/31/12: Alum leaves mark on Treasury, Department of State
10/31/12: Fels professor Marjorie Margolies looks back on political career
10/24/12: Penn grad Andrea Mitchell covers politics with NBC
10/24/12: Wharton MBA grad David Scott serves as U.S. representative for Georgia
10/18/12: From SPEC to running the DNC
10/4/12: New York Times Reporter, Penn grad follows Romney on campaign trail
At Penn, Cook lived in Hill College House and then off-campus with Barfield and several others for three years.
“It was a little bit scary at the time,” Cook said of his house at 43rd and Osage streets.
Sports were a significant part of Cook’s experience on campus. He always had season tickets to see Penn’s basketball team at the Palestra, and he spent time with his roommates watching football on the weekends.
“Monday Night Football was a mandatory ritual you had to attend if you lived in the house,” Barfield said.
A new battlefield
After graduating as a history major — he remembers Thomas Childers’ class on the Third Reich as one of his favorites — Cook went on to law school at UCLA. But it was something else that eventually drove him into politics.
“What really pushed me to run was my time in Afghanistan,” Cook said. “We had to make very tough choices with a lot of people from different perspectives. At the same time I saw a Congress that was paralyzed and couldn’t execute even the most basic functions of government.”
Cook didn’t even consider a career in politics until just before he left for Afghanistan, he said. Days before his deployment, a mutual friend introduced him to Tom Perriello, a Democratic congressman from a neighboring Virginia district who was ousted from his seat in 2010. Thus began a long process that ended with Cook’s decision to run in this year’s election.
News of the potential debt ceiling crisis in Congress cemented his desire to run for office.
“There was a point where it was coming up to that deadline, and we were worried about whether we were going to get paid the next week,” he said.
When Cook entered the race earlier this year, some of his first financial backers were friends from his days at Penn.
“Maybe it’s a cliché, but he’s a man of integrity,” said 1999 Engineering graduate Patrick Cahill, who was also Cook’s roommate for three years. “He wants what’s best for the country … I think we need more people like Adam in Congress.”
Today, Cook said he is dismayed at elected officials’ hyper-partisanship and disconnect from their districts’ constituents, and hopes that his focus on veterans’ rights can cross party lines in his district. At the end of the day, he would like to bring positive change to the country and help Congress overcome what some see as a frustrating legislative process.
“Decisions that are made in Congress have a real impact on real people,” he said. “Yes, the process is frustrating, but this stuff still matters. It matters to students trying to go to school and pay for it, it matters to folks in the military, it matters to middle-class Americans whose taxes might go up if Congress doesn’t act.”
Even if he wins this election, Cook can’t see himself launching a lifelong career in national politics,
“I don’t see myself in Congress ten years down the road, even if I win this election,” he said. “I don’t know what I’ll be doing in ten years, but I know I won’t be in Congress.”
