About Adam

Adam Gray learned common sense values like hard work and responsibility while growing up in Merced, in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. Adam’s strong roots in the agricultural community began with his grandparents. His grandfather, Ernest Denault, established a local business, Merced Dairy Supply, serving the Valley’s growing dairy industry. The business continued to thrive under Adam’s father, Robert Gray. Adam’s first job at the dairy supply store was washing storage barrels and loading feed bags, an experience that helped him learn about the local economy from the ground up.

Adam attended public schools in Merced and was a member of Golden Valley High School’s first graduating class. He worked his way through college, splitting time between the dairy supply store and Merced Community College, before furthering his education at UC Santa Barbara.

Inspired to serve his community, Adam returned home to work with then Assemblyman, now Congressman, Dennis Cardoza, working to promote the Valley’s agricultural heritage and protect its economy. At the time, farmers were plagued with soaring energy prices, rolling blackouts, low rainfall and low-cost imports flooding the market. Adam helped exempt fuel and farm equipment from the state sales tax, otherwise known as the “Tractor Tax,” which encouraged farmers to upgrade their equipment and save jobs. He also worked on legislation to provide tax incentives to small businesses, and to protect family farms from scrap metal theft. Most recently, Adam helped pass a law that provides tax credits to first-time homebuyers and protects homeowners against fraudulent loan modifications.

Adam lives in Merced, where he manages a small public affairs and communications firm and serves as a course assistant/lecturer on the state legislature at UC Merced.