Schmidt, Jean, 1951-

<p>Jeannette Mary Schmidt (born November 29, 1951) is an American politician who is a state representative in Ohio's 65th district. She was a U.S. Representative for Ohio's 2nd congressional district, serving from 2005 to 2013. She is a member of the Republican Party.</p>

<p>Schmidt is the second female Ohio Republican to be elected to Congress without succeeding her husband and the first woman to represent the Cincinnati area in the House. She won the Ohio 2nd congressional district seat in a special election on August 2, 2005, by 3.5 percentage points over Democrat and Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett, amid national attention to the race because of Hackett's strong views on the war. The margin of her victory led many Democrats to claim a victory for their party, since the district had been reliably Republican for the past 30 years, and to forecast trouble for the Republicans in 2006. Despite these forecasts, Schmidt defeated former representative Bob McEwen in a Republican primary in May 2006 and Democrat Victoria Wells Wulsin, a medical doctor, in 2006 with 50.4% of the vote. She was re-elected in 2008, winning with 45% of the vote, and in 2010, winning with 58.6%. On March 6, 2012, Schmidt was defeated for re-election in the GOP primary by Brad Wenstrup. In 2020 she ran for and won the 65th district Ohio House seat with 65% of the vote, after being backed by the embattled Speaker Larry Householder.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.”</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>