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Adam Light

Tazewell County businessman Adam Light today formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the state Senate seat now held by Democrat Phil Puckett.

The district currently covers Bland, Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell Counties, and portions of Pulaski, Smyth, Wise, and Wythe Counties; the upcoming redistricting will force the district to expand, if not make other changes.

Here’s a copy of Light’s remarks:

Adam Light, a small business owner and Certified Land Surveyor, announced today that he would be a candidate for Republican nomination for the 38th District seat in the Senate of Virginia. Flanked by his family and Congressman H. Morgan Griffith (R-VA09) at a news conference at Southwest Virginia Community College, Light declared his candidacy before a gathering of family and friends, as well as area volunteers with the Republican Party and Tea Party activists.
“I’m announcing my intent to seek the nomination of the Republican Party for Virginia’s 38th District State Senate seat,” declared Light. “I do this having had many encouraging discussions with family, friends, and fellow activists in both the Republican Party, and the Tea Party.
“I’ve taken their recommendations into prayerful consideration and feel that now is the time to step forward. I believe that the people of the 38th District are ready for new leadership.”
Decrying the failures of big government, Light noted, “We’ve been promised for my entire life, that if we give government more money, more power, and more control, prosperity will be right around the corner.
“Despite decades of promises, the 38th District continues to struggle. Our opportunities are fewer and our debts are greater.”
Pledging to apply the principles of limited government, free markets and local control to Virginia’s government, Light said, “It’s time to take a new direction. But it’s not a new path; it’s one we’ve walked before. It is the path of our founders.
“We must fight to protect the Commonwealth’s 10th Amendment rights so that Virginians can decide what the best course for Virginia is, not Washington politicians or bureaucrats.
“We must fight to protect our traditions and our beliefs, by acknowledging that things like faith in God, the sanctity of life, and the right to keep and bear arms are not just options to us, but that they are core values of free men.
“I ask now that you all join me in this journey. I ask for your support and prayers, and I look forward to serving the people of the 38th District as your next State Senator.”
“Adam Light is a principled, committed leader who understands, respects, and lives by the values that have made Southwest Virginia great,” remarked Congressman Griffith. “His appreciation of our region’s tremendous potential, his adherence to the principles of our commonwealth’s and nation’s founders, and his dedication to the people of Southwest make him the right person to represent the 38th District in the Senate of Virginia. I am honored to be here today to support his candidacy.”
Light, 40, is an owner of LBL & Associates PC, a 17-employee full-service surveying and engineering company. Light serves as the firm’s General Manager.
Born in Grundy, Light is a graduate of Richlands High School and Tazewell County Vocational School. He holds a Certificate in Surveying Science from Old Dominion University and is a Certified Land Surveyor.
Becoming politically active after the 2008 elections, Light founded his own Tea Party organization and became a member of the Tazewell County Republican Committee. He volunteered with the 10th Amendment Foundation and the Jefferson Tea Party Patriots, and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress for the 9th District in 2010.
Light and his wife, Jennifer, live in the Baptist Valley area of Tazewell County and worship at the Full Gospel Temple of Richlands. Their son Corey works in the Environmental Services Division of LBL & Associates PC, and their daughter Katie is a Commonwealth Legacy Scholar at Southwest Virginia Community College.
Virginia’s 38th Senate District currently includes Bland, Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell Counties, and portions of Pulaski, Smyth, Wise, and Wythe Counties.

Here’s a bio from the Light campaign:

Born in Grundy on September 25, 1970, Adam Light has called Southwest Virginia home ever since.
Adam’s father is a native of Hurley area of Buchanan County, where the family’s roots can be traced back to the early 1800s. Adam’s father and mother met shortly after his father returned from service with the Marine Corps in Vietnam.
Settling in the Slate Creek area of Buchanan County, Adam’s father went to work at his father’s company, Interstate Engineering in Grundy. The family would move to the Lester’s Fork area of Hurley and then to the Pounding Mill area of Tazewell County.
Adam attended school at P.V. Dennis Elementary in Grundy, D.A. Justus Elementary in Hurley, and Richlands Middle School. Adam graduated from Richlands High School in 1988. He also attended Tazewell County Vocational School, graduating with a Certificate in Electronics Technology. During his senior year, Adam won the state championship in the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America’s job skill demonstration competition.
It was in high school that Adam met his future wife, Jennifer Lawson, a native of the Richlands area. They were married one year to the day of their first date.
Adam and Jennifer lived for a short time in the Tri-Cities area. There, Adam worked a variety of jobs, spending time as a warehouseman at Lowe’s, a salesman for a vacuum cleaner company, a material handler in a garment factory, and a coil winder in a factory that made electron transformers.
With Jennifer expecting their first child, the Light family moved back to Richlands. Adam got a job at Interstate Engineering, the same company that employed his father and was once owned by his grandfather. Adam was hired as a rodman on an underground survey crew. But with the economy struggling in the early 1990s, Adam found himself laid off a short while later.
Rebounding in 1994, Adam became employed by D.R. Price Engineering and Land Surveying in Russell County. He began taking night classes in the Drafting and Design program at Southwest Virginia Community College. In 1996, he took a Crew Chief’s position with Marshall Miller and Associates in Bluefield. A year later, he returned to D.R. Price as a Project Manager. Furthering his professional education, Adam became certified as a First Class Mine Foreman.
In 2000, Adam and his father formed Light Surveying and Mapping, which became LBL & Associates PC a year later. What began as a two-man, father-and-son business has grown into a 17-employee full-service surveying and engineering company. In 2004, LBL added an Environmental Services Division with a laboratory to test and monitor water quality for the coal and natural gas industry. In 2007, they formed D&A Investments, which owns the property from which LBL operates. Adam serves as General Manager for LBL, which currently employs three generations of the Light family: Adam’s father, Douglas, Adam’s younger brother, Joshua, and Adam’s son, Corey.
In 2004, Adam passed the Land Surveyor in Training Examination on his first attempt. In 2008, he was awarded a Certificate in Surveying Science from Old Dominion University. In 2009, Adam passed the Certified Land Surveyors Exam.
Becoming politically active after the 2008 elections, Adam founded his own Tea Party organization and became a member of the Tazewell County Republican Committee. He volunteered with the 10th Amendment Foundation and the Jeffersonville Tea Party Patriots, and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress for the 9th District.
In 2010, the 10th Amendment Foundation awarded him its Thomas Jefferson Award for Legislative excellence for his work on the Virginia Atmospheric Sovereignty Act (HB1357, 2010), for which he has twice testified before members of the General Assembly in Richmond. For his work on the Morgan Griffith for Congress campaign that same year, Adam was named Volunteer of the Year by the 9th District Republican Committee.
Adam and Jennifer Light make their home in the Baptist Valley area of Tazewell County, and the Light family worships at the Full Gospel Temple of Richlands. The Lights daughter, Katie, is a Commonwealth Legacy Scholar at Southwest Virginia Community College. Their son, Corey, lives in Cedar Bluff, and is employed in the Environmental Services Division of LBL.