Adam Knauff

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Adam Henry Knauff

Republican Party

Prior offices:

Charleston City Council Ward 7

Year left office: 2023

Successor: Beth Kerns (D)

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Education

High school

Capital High School

Bachelor's

West Virginia University

Graduate

West Virginia University

Personal

Religion

Christian: Lutheran

Profession

Engineer

Contact

Personal website

Adam Henry Knauff (Republican Party) was a member of the Charleston City Council in West Virginia, representing Ward 7. Knauff left office on January 3, 2023.

Knauff was a candidate for at-large representative on the Kanawha County Board of Education in West Virginia. The general election was held on May 10, 2016. He lost the election. Knauff previously ran for a seat on the board. He was defeated in the general election on May 8, 2012.

Biography

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Knauff is a certified engineer-in-training (EIT) with the state of West Virginia. He began work as an inventory logistics analyst for MRC in 2012. He previously served on the Charleston City Council. Knauff previously served as a board member of the Charleston Land Trust and as an officer of Generation Charleston. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in industrial engineering from West Virginia University.

Elections

2016

See also: Kanawha County Schools elections (2016)

Two of the five seats on the Kanawha County Schools Board of Education were up for general election on May 10, 2016. In his bid for re-election, incumbent Jim Crawford Sr. faced three challengers—Ric Cavender, Bill Carpenter, and Adam Henry Knauff. Crawford won re-election, and Cavender won the open seat.
Though the election was held at large, only two members from the same geographic district could be on the board during a given term. Crawford was from District 3. Cavender and Carpenter were from District 1, and Knauff was from District 4. The board had one member from District 1: Ryan White. Because of this, only Cavender or Carpenter could have won a seat, not both of them. There were no members from District 4, and Crawford was the only member from District 3.

Results

Kanawha County Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Ric Cavender	36.26%	21,180
Jim Crawford Sr. Incumbent	26.56%	15,510
Bill Carpenter	18.85%	11,009
Adam Henry Knauff	18.05%	10,545
Write-in votes	0.28%	161
Total Votes		58,405
Source: Kanawha County Clerk, "Primary Election: Official Summary Report," accessed May 27, 2016

Funding

See also: Campaign finance in the Kanawha County Schools election

Knauff reported $4,002.00 in contributions and $3,666.96 in expenditures to the Kanawha County Election Center, which left his campaign with $335.04 on hand in the election.

Endorsements

Knauff was endorsed by the Kanawha County Education Association, the Kanawha County School Service Personnel Association, and the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association.

2012

Kanawha County Schools,
At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Jim Crawford Sr.	25.2%	9,695
	Nonpartisan	Robin Rector	20.6%	7,938
	Nonpartisan	Linda Ealy	17.7%	6,814
	Nonpartisan	Ronnie Walls	14.1%	5,426
	Nonpartisan	Curtis Robinson	11.2%	4,315
	Nonpartisan	Adam Henry Knauff	11.1%	4,276
Total Votes				38,464
Source: West Virginia Secretary of State, "Kanawha County Election Results: May 8, 2012 Primary," accessed March 6, 2014

Campaign themes

2016

Knauff highlighted the following platform on his campaign website:

“	I am frequently in a Kanawha County Schools classroom, either reading to children or providing hands-on lessons in engineering, math, or as a member of Shoals Elementary’s PTO. Here’s what needs to change: the county spends too much on chasing ever-changing new, expensive, curricula and unneeded technology programs because they make great soundbites and talking points, but ignores the fundamental needs of maintaining our schools’ infrastructure and putting knowledgeable, experienced, teachers and staff where they are needed. As the youngest person ever elected to Charleston’s City Council, and a two-term member, I voted against Charleston’s 0.5% sales tax increase because of its effects on Charleston’s small businesses and consumers. I have the honor being a former vice-chair of the Planning Committee and the Urban Renewal Committee. One of my favorite accomplishments was bringing together the City of Charleston, Generation Charleston, and the Charleston Land Trust to build new hiking trails in my home district’s Cato Park. We as volunteers built miles of new trails at $0.00 direct cost to the city. The Board Of Education needs someone like me who can pool resources to make improvements happen on limited budgets. My entire life, I have supported athletics in Kanawha County by playing, coaching, refereeing, and donating to many organizations. The Board has done little to prevent cuts to sports, the arts, and sciences through poor budgeting, spending on unneeded pet programs, and feeding into the ‘high-stakes’ testing fallacy. Will you put on a uniform, get in the game, and help me create the Board Of Education turnover our children’s teams need? One of my favorite volunteering opportunities is as a member of Charleston Main Street - West Side’s Board Of Advisors. It’s important that our Board Of Education have ties to the local business community so it can create permanent, working, relationships within the local economy. Those healthy relationships also improve our schools’ morale and bottom-line when their local businesses can support them back. Will you help me help your local small business, your local school, and our local economy? I am a Trustee and Council Member at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. I founded our Children’s Ministry program [5:30pm the 2nd Friday of every month, all are welcome! :-) ] in part because our children aren’t learning enough art and music at school. When I’m on the board, I will get the budget of Kanawha County Schools to reflect a priority on all subjects, not spending millions on chasing every new, unproven, curriculum.	”
—Adam Henry Knauff (2016)

See also

2022 Elections

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Personal

Website

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Charleston City Council Ward 7 -2023	Succeeded by Beth Kerns (D)