Jean Schmidt

Jeannette Mary Schmidt (née Hoffman; born November 29, 1951) is an American politician who is a state representative in Ohio's 62nd district.

Schmidt worked in her father's bank, the Midwestern Savings Association, as a branch manager from 1971 to 1978.

She earned a B.A. in political science from the University of Cincinnati in 1974.

She told The Cincinnati Post that before Bateman had been appointed to the seat in the early 1980s, Clermont County Republican leaders "offered me the job on a silver platter" but she turned them down because her daughter was only four years old at the time.

Schmidt was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1984.

She was a fitness instructor from 1984 to 1986, when she began a four-year career as a schoolteacher.

Her opponent for the Republican nomination was Tom Niehaus, a fellow member of the Ohio House from New Richmond whose 88th District represented the half of Clermont County outside her district plus Brown and Adams Counties to the east.

Schmidt was elected as a Miami Township trustee in 1989.

When Clermont County Commissioner Jerry McBride resigned in 1991 to become a judge, Schmidt was one of four candidates to replace him, but wasn't appointed.

In her 1993 bid for reelection, she finished first in a field of four, taking 3,639 votes.

One major issue during her service on the Board of Trustees was the city of Milford annexing parts of the township.

She and other trustees lobbied the Ohio General Assembly for new laws to protect townships from such annexations.

In 1993, a panel of Miami Township residents recommended the township incorporate to protect itself from annexations, to have greater control over its territory, and to obtain more money from the state.

However, Schmidt as a trustee was not a participant in this effort, saying she had to be a "cheerleader" on the sides.

In 1995, she traveled to Russia to offer instruction about political campaigning in a country that had little experience of free elections.

On her trip she ran in Moscow's Red Square: "Did I ever feel unsafe? No. And would I jog through Central Park in New York? No way."

Schmidt was reelected to a third term as trustee in 1997.

She resigned her trustee seat to enter the Ohio House.

The remaining two trustees appointed Mary Makley Wolff to the remainder of the term.

In 2000, Schmidt ran for the Ohio House of Representatives seat being vacated by Sam Bateman, who was prevented by term limits from running again.

But in 2000, her daughter was in college and she decided to run.

Unopposed in the March primary, The Cincinnati Enquirer endorsed her in the general election, writing "Seldom has a choice been more obvious than that between Republican Jean Schmidt and Democrat Sherrill Callahan."

Her district was entirely within Clermont County, containing Miami Township as well as Batavia, Goshen, Pierce, Stonelick and Union Townships, plus the villages of Amelia, Batavia and the city of Milford, and the Clermont County part of the city of Loveland.

After the redistricting necessitated by the 2000 census, her district became the 66th and contained the same territory minus Pierce and Stonelick Townships."

The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote she introduced and passed bills "remarkable in number and quality for a neophyte lawmaker."

She sponsored legislation on the Clermont County courts, limiting the ability of public employees to collect both pension and salary simultaneously ("double dipping"), urban townships, and protecting townships from annexations of their territory by cities, all of which were passed into law.

She also pushed legislation on the health of women, suicide prevention, abstinence education, and to "lock killers away for good" by making it easier for judges to sentence murderers to life terms.

Schmidt also supported Ohio's concealed carry law.

In the House she served on the Finance and Appropriations; Human Services and Aging; Banking, Pensions and Securities; and Public Utilities Committees.

She was excited to be in the Statehouse: "Oh my God, I'm really a state representative" she was overheard telling a fellow freshman.

In 2002, she was elected to the 125th General Assembly without opposition in both the primary and general elections.

In 2004, she ran for the 14th District seat in the Ohio Senate to replace Senate President Doug White, who was retiring.

The Senate seat included Clermont, Brown, Adams and Scioto counties and part of Lawrence County.

She was a U.S. Representative for OH's 2nd congressional district, serving from 2005 to 2013.

She is a member of the Republican Party.

Schmidt, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a lifelong resident of Clermont County's Miami Township, along the eastern shore of Little Miami River near Milford and Loveland.

One of four children (two daughters, two sons) of Augustus ("Gus") and Jeannette Hoffman, she has a twin sister, Jennifer Black.

Her father made his money in the savings and loan industry, then ran an auto racing team that competed in the Indianapolis 500.

In 2020, Jean Schmidt was elected to a second stint in the Ohio House of Representatives from the 65th district.

She took office on January 1, 2021 and is the only former Member of Congress currently serving in the Ohio General Assembly.