Steve Schmidt

Stephen Edward Schmidt (born September 28, 1970) is an American political and corporate strategist.

As a young boy, he distributed campaign materials for Democrat Bill Bradley's 1978 United States Senate election in New Jersey.

In 1988, he was one of two graduating seniors voted "most likely to succeed" by his classmates at North Plainfield High School.

Schmidt attended the University of Delaware from 1988 through the spring of 1993, majoring in political science.

During this time, he registered as a Republican.

He left three credits short of graduation because he did not pass a math course; Schmidt has said that he has been diagnosed with a learning disability that makes higher math difficult for him.

He joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and worked on the 1992 gubernatorial campaign of Delaware Republican B. Gary Scott.

In 1995, Schmidt managed the unsuccessful campaign for Kentucky Attorney General of Will T. Scott, who is formerly a Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court.

This Kentucky campaign's advertising strategy was featured in the second edition of George Magazine.

From 1997 to 1998, Schmidt was communications director for California State Senator Tim Leslie.

In 1998, he was the communications director for California State Treasurer Matt Fong's unsuccessful campaign to unseat U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer.

In 1999, he was the communications director for Lamar Alexander's presidential run, leaving in June when the campaign reduced its senior staff.

By late 2000, Schmidt was communications director of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

In 2001, he became the communications director and chief communications strategist of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Schmidt joined the Bush administration as a deputy assistant to the president and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney.

In 2004, he was a member of the senior strategic planning group, led by White House adviser Karl Rove, that ran President George W. Bush's re-election campaign; Schmidt oversaw the reelection "war room".

In 2005 and 2006, he was the White House strategist responsible for the U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

In 2006, Schmidt left the White House to become the campaign manager of the successful re-election campaign for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, following the firing of Mike Murphy, Rob Stutzman and Pat Clarey.

Prior to Schmidt's involvement, the governor's approval rating was 39%.

Schwarzenegger was predicted to lose the 2006 election, having lost four ballot measures in 2005.

The media strategist for Schwarzenegger's opponent Phil Angelides said that Schmidt "was able to restore Arnold's original appeal."

Countering a national anti-Republican wave, Schwarzenegger was re-elected with 57% of the vote in what was considered "a remarkable political turnaround."

From there, he became a partner in Mercury Public Affairs in charge of Mercury's operations in California.

In 2007, Schmidt was named "Campaign Manager of the Year" by the American Association of Political Consultants.

John McCain called Steve Schmidt in 2007 as his campaign was faltering and a majority of campaign staff had resigned.

McCain had gone from the Republican frontrunner on New Year's Day 2007 to last place and bankruptcy by July 2007 under the leadership of John Weaver and Rick Davis.

He has worked on Republican political campaigns, including those of President George W. Bush, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Arizona Senator John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign and Democratic campaigns, like Dean Phillips.

After Schmidt joined the campaign as a volunteer, the McCain campaign moved from last place in the Republican primaries to win New Hampshire in January 2008, and then in South Carolina, Florida, California and other states, ultimately becoming the Republican nominee.

He became a political analyst for MSNBC in 2011, and appeared on the third season of Showtime's The Circus.

Schmidt has been extremely critical of former President Donald Trump, and of the GOP for supporting him.

Schmidt completed his final math course and received his degree in 2013.

He was a vice chair at the public relations firm Edelman, where he advised CEOs and senior decision makers at Fortune 500 corporations, until he stepped down July 2018.

In June 2018, Schmidt renounced the Republican Party as "fully the party of Trump".

In September 2020, Schmidt predicted that violence would erupt as a result of Trump's election denial proclamations.

In early December 2020, he stated: "The Republican Party is an organized conspiracy for the purposes of maintaining power for self-interest, and the self-interest of its donor class ... It's no longer dedicated to American democracy."

Schmidt is a founder of The Lincoln Project, a group founded to campaign against former President Trump.

It became the most financially successful Super-PAC in American history, raising almost $100 million to campaign against Trump's failed 2020 re-election bid.

He left the group in 2021.

In a podcast on December 14, 2020, Schmidt announced that he planned to register as a member of the Democratic Party.

The son of a schoolteacher and a telecommunications executive, Schmidt grew up in North Plainfield, New Jersey, where he became an Eagle Scout, a tight end on the high school football team, a two-year member of the National Honor Society, and senior class vice president.