Bob Smith

Bob Smith is the Republican nominee for California's 24th District, a retired U.S. Navy officer who rose from enlisted sailor to senior officer over 26 years and is now a senior engineering fellow at a defense contractor, according to his Ballotpedia survey. He says he is running to reduce partisan division and on home ownership, defense and technology jobs.[1]

Smith enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1998 and spent five years as an enlisted technician on the AEGIS Weapon System, according to his Ballotpedia survey. He was selected for the Navy's Seaman to Admiral program, earned a B.S. in General Engineering Technology from Old Dominion University in 2006, and was commissioned as an officer that year.[1]

He served as a Surface Warfare Officer, including multiple combat deployments, and earned an M.S. in Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey in 2015. He spent the rest of his career as an Engineering Duty Officer directing development programs for new Navy weapon systems, and says he received the Navy's Best Engineer of the Year award for 2023 for delivering a ballistic missile defense platform. He retired from the Navy in 2024 after more than 26 years.[1] Smith is now a senior engineering fellow for a defense contractor based in Washington, D.C., according to his survey.[1]

Smith advanced from the June 2, 2026 top-two primary, finishing second with 35.9 percent of the vote. KEYT reported that his wife is a Democrat and that he describes his approach as moderate.[3][2]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.