Adam Lioz is Senior Policy Counsel for political participation at LDF, where he works to build an inclusive, multiracial democracy. Adam is an attorney and policy advocate with more than 25 years of experience working to promote political equality, economic opportunity, sustainable development, and racial equity through public education, policy design, direct advocacy, litigation, and electoral campaigns.
Adam leads LDF’s advocacy to enact State Voting Rights Acts in states with substantial Black populations and demonstrated need. LDF’s multidisciplinary State VRA team has played a leading role in the enactment of the New York Voting Rights Act in 2022 (featuring the nation’s first state-level preclearance program); the Connecticut Voting Rights Act in 2023 (currently the most comprehensive State VRA in the nation); and the Minnesota Voting Rights Act in 2024 (responding directly to a federal court ruling undercutting the federal VRA’s private right of action). Adam also works to safeguard and expand Black political power through strong voting rights protections at the federal level.
Prior to joining LDF in 2021, Adam worked with Demos for nearly ten years as Counsel, Senior Counsel, and Political Director. On Demos’ Legal Strategies team, Adam focused on litigation to enforce the National Voter Registration Act and end prison-based gerrymandering; policy advocacy to promote political equality and democratic fairness through safeguarding the right to vote and curbing the influence of big money on the political process; and directing the organization’s efforts to transform the Supreme Court’s approach to money in politics. As Political Director, Adam worked to build and maintain Demos’ relationships and to develop and execute strategy for Demos Action, Demos’ 501(c)4 sister organization.
Prior to joining Demos, Adam worked on environmental issues with PennPIRG (now PennEnvironment) and promoted money in politics reforms and stronger election administration for U.S. PIRG.
Adam has conducted extensive advocacy in state legislatures and the U.S. Congress; written or edited more than a dozen reports on environmental and structural democracy issues; and been quoted, published, or featured in leading media outlets such as The New York Times (op-ed Mar. 2002), Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, CNN, CSPAN.
In the spring of 2018, Adam served as an adjunct professor at Berkeley Law where he co-created and co-taught “Where Capitalism Meets Democracy: Federal Election Finance” with former Federal Election Commission Chair Ann Ravel. His relevant publications include two law review articles (Breaking the Vicious Cycle in the Seton Hall Law Review and Limiting the Limits in the Election Law Journal); a chapter called “Raising All of Our Voices for Democracy” in the 2018 book Democracy by the People: Reforming Campaign Finance in America; and several Demos reports on money in politics, including the organization’s seminal statement on the intersection between money in politics and racial equity.
Adam received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 2007 and his B.A. from Duke University in 1998. He is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania (inactive) and Washington, DC.
