The first time Rep. Derek Schmidt ran for governor, he was in high school.
“I was governor of the 1985 American Legion Boys’ State of Kansas,” he said. “That was my first big race.”
It wasn’t his last. In 2022 he challenged Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, after clashing with her over pandemic policies and more during his time as the state’s attorney general.
He lost that contest by just over 2 points, but it wasn’t long before he was headed to Congress, landing the seat vacated by Jake LaTurner, a fellow Republican.
Schmidt sat down last month to talk about his early days in politics, including stints working on the Hill for two moderate GOP senators: Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.
Looking further back, he remembers watching his dad serve in local government, fielding angry comments from people in town while sitting at dinner.
“They’d be yelling and waving, and by the end of the conversation, they were thanking him for taking time,” Schmidt says. “It’s one of the things you learn in a small town. These are still your neighbors. You’re going to deal with them tomorrow, no matter what happens today.”
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Q: What’s your earliest memory of politics?
A: My hometown of Independence was about 10,000 people, and growing up my dad was on the city commission and also was mayor. In a little town, you all chip in and serve, right? I didn’t really think of it as politics back then.
Q: How did you think of it instead?
A: It was always something you did on the side. Dad was a funeral director, and I was fortunate to have parents who showed me that if you want your town to succeed, you got to stand up and be part of it.
This was the early 1970s, so right after the Great Society and LBJ. There was a program where the feds would pay for [urban renewal grants] to do alterations that were sold as upgrades, and a lot of towns in our part of southeast Kansas participated, places with these fairly quaint, early 20th-century downtowns with red brick buildings. They would go in and shut off some of the streets, turn them into pedestrian walkways and build these hideous roofs, kind of like an outdoor mall.
It ruined some of those downtowns, just ruined them. It wasn’t culturally consistent with the communities. Who wants to walk three blocks to get to the store you’ve always parked right in front of? Dad was the deciding vote on the city commission against taking the money, and I just remember he got more grief. We would go out to dinner in town, and people would be very upset. But it was the right decision, and dad had a way of calming people. I watched him and thought, “That’s a principled stand.” I’m not sure I used those words as a 5-year-old.
Q: What was your first job on the Hill?
A: I thought I wanted to be a journalist, and Sears, Roebuck and Co. used to have a fellowship they sponsored for journalism students to get some Hill experience. So I actually did an internship with a guy named Tom Tauke, a House member from the Quad Cities in Iowa.
And then I came home one weekend from college for an arts festival, and Nancy Kassebaum, who was in the Senate at the time, was the speaker that night at dinner. I wound up sitting at a table with a guy named Mike Harper. Turns out he was Nancy’s state director, and two weeks later, he called me. I packed up and drove out for a $12,000 a year staff assistant job, and it kind of stuck.
It had honestly never occurred to me that members have staff to help them do their jobs. It’s a little embarrassing, but it’s true. I had a very “Schoolhouse Rock” concept of Congress before that.
Q: What memories stand out from that time?
A: It was lots and lots of mail, and then I got a master’s and came back as a legislative assistant, handling budget stuff and eventually foreign relations. This was the mid-’90s, in the arms control era. I also got to do some of her Africa subcommittee work, and that was a remarkable experience. It wasn’t that long after apartheid ended [in South Africa] and Nelson Mandela had become president.
Not to sound corny about it, but it was a great group of people. Even though she was a very senior member by that point, she still had a lot of Kansans working for her, some of whom I’m still in touch with today. One of them is now my chief of staff, Krisann Pearce. She was a committee staffer for Nancy back in the day on the Labor committee.
Q: You went on to work as legislative director and general counsel for Sen. Chuck Hagel.
A: I remember I picked up a copy of National Journal, and I was reading these little one-page bios of the new senators. And that’s how I heard about a guy named Chuck Hagel. He was the first Republican from Nebraska in a long time, a wounded combat veteran who still had shrapnel in his body. He ran on a platform of expanding trade and talking about America’s place in the world. I was very impressed, so I sent him a cold resume. And by sent, I mean they used to have these boxes over in the Dirksen Building where you could go to physically drop off resumes.
He was a wonderful mentor for me, and we stay in touch. In fact, I owe him a call. He and Kassebaum were in many ways different on the surface, but alike underneath. He was an infantry sergeant with a gruff demeanor, but they were both people with a public servant’s heart and a motivation to serve.
Q: When you were running for Kansas governor in 2022, Kassebaum endorsed the Democratic incumbent instead of you. How did that feel?
A: Yeah, I noticed that. As I said at the time, I was disappointed, but I will always be grateful for the opportunity she gave me. Times have changed and politics have changed. Some of us have been around through a lot of that change, and you do have to represent the moment you live in, and the people who live in that moment.
Q: What is it like to be back on the Hill, this time as a member of Congress yourself?
A: I thought I was done, after 22 years in elected office back home. I did 10 in the state Senate and 12 as the attorney general. I was our nominee for governor in 2022 and lost. And then I had a very good job practicing law with a wonderful firm, and my wife reminds me I was actually making money for the first time.
I wasn’t planning on getting back in, but I am very glad to be here. “Liberating” is the wrong word, but there’s something almost relaxing about the process. I’m not trying to climb anywhere. I’ve had my shot and done a lot of things, been very blessed that way, and I hope we can do some good here. And so far, [my staff] have been very good about not rolling their eyes in front of me when I say, “Well, we used to do it this way.”
The post Thirty years later, Rep. Derek Schmidt is back on the Hill appeared first on Roll Call.
