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John Lewis
1st District: Pastor's son tries hand at politics

When he was still a child, Adam Cook decided he did not want to be a pastor like his father. He saw the stress of the late-night calls, the messiness of church politics and the pressure to come up with sermons. "It wasn't my calling," Cook said. Instead, he decided to run for Congress. Cook, 35, a Democrat, is challenging U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, who has held the 1st District seat since winning a special election in 2007. He also faces Independent Green Party candidate Glenda Gail Parker. A tall, thin man, Cook is a political newcomer. During his third year in law school in 2001 at UCLA, Cook scheduled an interview for a lucrative job as a corporate lawyer....