Bob W. Smith is running as the Democratic candidate in House District 33. HD-33 encompasses Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham, and Warren Counties.

Bob has worked as a Special Education Teacher for more than two decades.  He is a Master of Education graduate from the University of Texas at Austin and is a lifelong believer that providing services and protecting the rights of disabled children and adults is an obligation to which he is committed. He has experience working with all major disability groups.

As farmers, his family migrated from England to Jamestown in 1700 and went up the James River to settle in Bedford, Virginia.  As families do, his parents found jobs in Chicago and reared nine children.  Loving big families, Bob and his wife, Christine, reared seven children (6 girls and one boy) and now enjoy local family outings and events for their 24 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

In the early days of the Vietnam War, Bob found it important to follow his patriotic beliefs and enlist for three years in the U.S. Army where he served 19 months in Vietnam and 6 months in Germany.  He completed his service as a Specialist E-5 coordinating convoys and air support to resupply the troops in the field.

The military was a good teacher for the importance of proper use of weapons and Bob is a fan of skeet and target shooting.  Indeed, he found working with the ROTC weapons training program for Fairfax County students to be rewarding.

Bob believes it is important to serve our veterans and has done so for decades serving in various capacities, including 6 years as Commander of the Falls Church Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post 9274 and a year as Commander with the Arlington American Legion post 139.  He spent a term as President of the National American Legion Press Association.

It is important to note that Bob was able to attend college because America invested in its soldiers by providing school tuition and a living allowance to attend college.  Coming from a very poor family, Bob became the first child in the history of his family to graduate from college.  It is Bob’s expectation that much more will be done to support our troops and each family.  It is America’s best way to remain strong!

Bob finds it thrilling to live in an area that is so environmentally perfect.  And it is important that all that is possible must be done to ensure our environment is not damaged by reckless management.  While good farmland should not be taken out of circulation, there are many locations suitable for solar panels.  Looking forward to diversifying our energy needs is important.