President and General Counsel, Public Interest Legal Foundation
J. Christian Adams is the President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation. He served from 2005 to 2010 in the Voting Section at the United States Department of Justice Voting Section. President Trump appointed Adams to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. President Trump also appointed Adams as a Commissioner to the United States Commission on Civil Rights where he also now serves with a term through 2025. He has been involved in election law lawsuits in 33 states and the territory of Guam. He has represented multiple presidential campaigns in election litigation. He has a law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He is a member of the South Carolina and Virginia Bars.
Deputy Solicitor General, Office of the Attorney General of Iowa
Patrick C. Valencia serves as Iowa’s Deputy Solicitor General in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. In this role, he helps marshal Iowa’s appellate docket, and briefs and argues cases, before state and federal appellate courts, including the Iowa and U.S. Supreme Courts.
Before moving to Iowa, Patrick worked on appeals across all levels of state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, as a senior associate in the Supreme Court and Appellate practice group at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. Patrick has worked on cases involving a wide range of issues, including constitutional law, civil procedure, civil rights, employment law, and complex commercial litigation, across a variety of industries, including the automotive, energy, health care, and technology industries. Patrick has also served as appellate counsel in federal district courts, including on several antitrust cases.
Before Hogan Lovells, Patrick clerked for the Honorables Roger W. Titus and Paul W. Grimm of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, and then for the Honorable Steven M. Colloton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Patrick graduated Order of the Coif with high honors from the George Washington University Law School. Patrick completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame, where he studied political science and Irish history.
Senior Associate, Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky PLLC
Drew Watkins is a senior associate with Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky PLLC, providing counsel in the areas of campaign finance and election law, lobbying and ethics compliance, and tax-exempt organizations.
Prior to joining the firm, Drew served as a law clerk to the Honorable Joseph R. Goeke, Senior Judge of the United States Tax Court in Washington, D.C., and worked in the Office of General Counsel for the Governor of Kentucky, Matthew G. Bevin. While in law school, Drew served as a law clerk for the Kentucky Executive Branch Ethics Commission and interned for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in his office in Washington, D.C.
Drew graduated from the University of Louisville with a B.S. in Justice Administration. He earned his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of Kentucky College of Law and was a member of the Order of the Coif. During law school, he served as a senior staff editor on the Kentucky Law Journal and authored a published student note on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. He is a member of the Kentucky, D.C. and Virginia bars and the Federalist Society.
2026 Election Law Update
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