About
Derek Schmidt has represented Kansas’s Second Congressional District since January 3, 2025. In Congress, his steady guidepost is always what is best for the people of the Second District and for America.
As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, House Judiciary Committee, and House Small Business Committee, Schmidt works to secure the border and keep our communities and our country safe and secure, curb runaway federal spending and policies that fuel inflation, and reduce the intrusion of the federal bureaucracy into the business decisions and lives of everyday Kansans.
A fifth-generation Kansan from Independence, Schmidt previously served 12 years as the 44th attorney general of Kansas where he focused on prosecuting crimes against children, protecting senior citizens from scams and rip-offs, recovering record-setting amounts of money for Kansas consumers and taxpayers, providing professional legal services for the State of Kansas, and standing up against illegal overreach by the federal government.
During his service as attorney general, Schmidt personally and successfully argued three Kansas cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He also led successful efforts to build a modern forensic science laboratory for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and to strengthen state human trafficking and consumer privacy laws.
From 2017 to 2018, Schmidt served as president of the National Association of Attorneys General and was named the nation's Outstanding Attorney General by his colleagues in 2019.
Before being elected attorney general, Schmidt served as a Kansas state senator representing part of Southeast Kansas, as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and as the Senate Majority Leader.
Congressman Schmidt is a graduate of Independence High School and studied at Independence Community College. He earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Kansas, his master's degree in international politics from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and his doctorate in law from the University of Kansas School of Law.