• Office Sought: Representative, Ohio (2)
• Birth Date: Nov. 29, 1951
• Occupation: Businesswoman, Educator
• Religion: Catholic
• Web site: http://www.jeanschmidt.com

Education

University of Cincinnati, BS

Jean Schmidt was born Jean Hoffman in Cincinnati, with her twin sister Jennifer (Black), and is a lifelong resident of Clermont County, just east of Cincinnati. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Cincinnati, was a schoolteacher, and worked in family businesses including banking and real estate investments. She also worked on a 175-acre family farm and helped with the family's auto racing team.

She served as Miami Township trustee in from 1990 to 2000, then won election to the Ohio House and served from 2001 to 2004.

She lost a state Senate Republican primary by 22 votes in a 2004 recount that reversed her initial lead. But Schmidt came back in 2005 in a special election to replace 12-year Republican U.S. House Rep. Rob Portman, who vacated his 2nd District seat to become President Bush's trade representative. She emerged from a bruising, 11-candidate primary in June with 31 percent of the vote and the nomination to face Paul Hackett, an Indian Hill attorney who attracted national attention as much for being a Marine combat veteran of the Iraq war as his outspoken criticism of President Bush's handling of the war.

Schmidt maintained what had been considered a safely Republican seat, representing a seven-county southern Ohio district, with about 52 percent of the vote in the Aug. 2 special election.

In her 2006 bid for election to a full term, Schmidt drew three primary opponents and faced a rematch with former congressman Bob McEwen, who finished second in the 2005 primary field. She captured the nomination with 48 percent of the vote.

She and her husband, Peter Schmidt, have a daughter.