In 2005 Jean Schmidt, a former Ohio state lawmaker from
the Cincinnati region, won a special election to the United
States House. An outspoken abortion opponent who grew
up around car racing and would go on to win several
competitive re-elections, Schmidt summed up her work-first
ethos for reporters after winning her first House race: “I’d
rather smell ethanol than Chanel No. 5.”1
Jean Schmidt was born Jeannette (Jean) Hoffman on
November 29, 1951, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is one of four
children, along with a twin sister and two older brothers,
born to Gus and Jeannette Hoffman. Schmidt spent her
early years on the family farm in Clermont County where
her father operated a savings and loan and also owned
a sprint car racing team. While her family had a history
supporting the Democratic Party, Schmidt identified
with arguments made by Republican Richard M. Nixon
during the 1968 presidential campaign. She earned a BA
in political science from the University of Cincinnati in
Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1974.2
During college, Schmidt worked in her father’s savings
and loan company, where she was employed as a branch
manager until 1978. She also worked as a fitness instructor
and a teacher. She married Peter Schmidt, a financial adviser
with whom she has one daughter, Emilie. Schmidt began
running daily after giving birth, having read that it helped
mothers fight postpartum depression. Schmidt ran her first
marathon in 1990 and, over the course of the next two
decades, completed a total of 97 marathons.3
In 1989 Schmidt won election as one of two trustees for Miami Township, Ohio, finishing first of three candidates.
During the next 11 years, she administered a budget of
$17 million and helped build a new park. In 2000 Schmidt
easily won election as a Republican to the Ohio state house
of representatives from Miami Township. In the state house, Schmidt
worked to make it easier for judges to sentence murderers
who plead guilty to life without parole. In 2004 Schmidt
decided not to seek re-election to a third term in the state
house and ran instead for a vacant state senate seat. After a
grueling GOP primary against a fellow state representative,
Schmidt lost by only 22 votes.4 Afterward, Schmidt,
who opposed abortion and the death penalty in all cases,
became president of the anti-abortion Right to Life group
in Cincinnati.5
In March 2005, President George W. Bush chose Ohio
Representative Robert Jones (Rob) Portman as his United
States Trade Representative. Schmidt took her daughter’s
advice and announced her candidacy for Portman’s
vacant seat in the House.6 Several other prominent
Ohio Republicans entered the race, including former
Congressman Bob McEwen and Pat DeWine, son of Ohio
Senator Michael DeWine. Schmidt ran on her conservative
record in the state legislature and won the primary with
31 percent of the vote.7 She then faced Iraq War veteran
and former Marine Corps Major Paul Hackett III in the
special election. For a conservative district—which voted
for Bush’s re-election in 2004 by 64 percent—the election
was unexpectedly close. After receiving national attention,
Schmidt narrowly defeated Hackett with 52 percent of the
vote in the August 2, 2005, special election.8
A month later, Schmidt was sworn into the 109th
Congress (2005–2007) and received assignments on
three committees: Agriculture; Government Reform; and
Transportation and Infrastructure. Schmidt remained on the
Agriculture and the Transportation Committees throughout
her tenure but left the Government Reform Committee at the
end of her first term. She was later appointed to the Foreign
Affairs Committee for the 112th Congress (2011–2013).9
Schmidt gained national attention during her truncated
first term for a controversial speech defending the Iraq War
on the House Floor. She quickly asked that her words be
withdrawn from the Congressional Record, but reaction was
loud and polarized. Her supporters touted what they saw
as toughness, and Schmidt embraced the characterization.
“You have to be [tough] in this environment,” she said.
“Politics is not for the faint of heart.”10
Schmidt won a close re-election to a full term in the
110th Congress (2007–2009) during a mid-term cycle that
saw Democrats take back the House majority. Schmidt won
the GOP primary rematch against former Congressman
McEwen before eking out a one-point win in the general
election against Democrat Victoria Wulsin.11
In 2008 Schmidt had an easier time, and won reelection
by seven percent.12 But that year David Krikorian,
who had run against Schmidt as an Independent, accused
the Congresswoman of taking money from the Turkish
government to promote the denial of the Armenian
genocide during World War I. Schmidt sued Krikorian
before the Ohio elections commission over false statements.
When the commission ruled against Krikorian, he appealed
to the Ohio supreme court and sued the commission in
federal court. In all these lawsuits, Schmidt was represented
by lawyers from the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund
(TALDF). Krikorian also filed a complaint against Schmidt
with the Office of Congressional Ethics. Its findings led
to an Ethics Committee investigation which revealed that
TALDF had no intention of ever charging Schmidt for their
legal work, estimated at $500,000. The Ethics Committee
issued its report in August 2011 finding that Schmidt had
violated House Rules by having benefitted from free legal
services but had done so unknowingly. As a result, Schmidt
was obligated to compensate TALDF, but the House took
no other action.13
From her seat on the Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee, Schmidt worked to strengthen America’s
levee systems and sought requirements for airlines that
fly internationally to disclose why and how flights get
delayed.14 Schmidt also supported President Bush’s tax cuts
and submitted the FARA Sunshine Act to make public
information available on foreign lobbyists and foreign agents
in the United States.15 She garnered acclaim back home
for her work with small businesses, and submitted bills to
reduce fees and tariffs on materials important to businesses
in her district.16 “Schmidt,” the Cincinnati Enquirer
wrote in its endorsement of her in 2006, “has quietly
been establishing herself as a working Congresswoman,
becoming more focused on a range of serious issues.”17
Schmidt also offered legislation creating new services and
programs for parents who place a child up for adoption, as
well as for the adopting parents. Her Birthparent Assistance
Act of 2008 called on the Secretary of Health and Human
Services to create counseling services and establish a
national help hotline for the birthparents of children up
for adoption. Similarly, her Birthmother Assistance Act of
2008 created new tax credits for both the birthmother of an
adopted child, as well as the parents who adopt that child.
She reintroduced both bills in the 111th Congress.18
While in the minority, Schmidt focused on serving
her constituents and fighting Democratic proposals
for comprehensive health care reform, voting against
the Affordable Care Act in the spring of 2010.19 A few
months later, during the 2010 midterm elections in which
Republicans flipped more than 60 seats in the House to
take back the majority, Schmidt defeated Democratic
challenger Surya Yalamanchili with 23 percent of the vote.20
In the majority, Schmidt worked to help her party repeal
the Affordable Care Act. When the Supreme Court upheld
much of the law in 2012, she insisted, “That doesn’t mean
it’s a good idea.”21
In 2012 Schmidt faced Brad Wenstrup in the GOP
primary. Wenstrup, a business owner and former combat
surgeon, had the backing of the small government Tea
Party movement. He singled out Schmidt’s votes to raise
the debt ceiling and had the backing of a powerful antiincumbent
political action committee.22 Schmidt, who had
spent the day before the primary election attending a House
Republican Conference meeting and casting votes on the
House Floor, lost to Wenstrup, 49 to 43 percent. Wenstrup
went on to win the general election.23
The controversy from Schmidt’s 2008 election continued
to follow her. Eventually the Federal Election Commission
conducted its own investigation into the TALDF matter,
finding in June 2016 that Schmidt had violated federal
campaign laws and fined her $2,500 for not reporting
TALDF’s legal assistance; the Turkish Coalition of
America Inc., the parent organization of TALDF, was fined
$25,000.24
After leaving the House, Schmidt focused on running
and teaching, and became an advocate for prison sentencing
reform. In November 2020, Jean Schmidt won election to return to the Ohio state house of representatives.25
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