Who Is Derek Schmidt?

Senator Derek Schmidt has represented the 15th State Senate District since 2001 and has served as the Senate Majority Leader since 2005.  As an advocate for the citizens of his rural Kansas district, Derek has been closely involved in promoting economic development and improving the state's business climate; strengthening criminal laws, including those to combat methamphetamine production; pushing for a world-class public education system for every child in Kansas; holding down property taxes; streamlining and limiting government; protecting public services and institutions important to rural Kansans; and being a leading voice for the region's interests in Topeka.

A Legislator Who Gets Things Done

During his first four-year term serving in the Kansas Senate, Derek was recognized by his colleagues and honored by Kansas citizens for his effective service to Kansas.  Derek's Senate colleagues appointed him chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, a rare honor for a first-term legislator.  Derek used the chairmanship to advocate for the needs and interests of rural Southeast Kansas and of farmers and ranchers throughout the state.

His colleagues also appointed Derek chairman of the Legislative Post Audit Committee, which is the "watchdog" committee that oversees the work of the legislature's professional auditors.  Derek used the chairmanship to ferret out government waste and inefficiency.

After being re-elected to a second term in 2004, Derek was elected Majority Leader by the 30-member Republican caucus in the Senate.  Derek was elected to a third term in the Senate on November 4, 2008.

Derek is known as an effective legislator.  Dozens of his legislative proposals have been approved by the Senate and have been signed into law by the governor.  (For a listing, see Derek's Legislative Reports).  In the photo at left, Derek presides over the Senate during debate on legislation.

The Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association awarded Derek its 2003 Jim Widrig Award for Legislative Achievement for his outstanding representation of Kansas agriculture.  The Coffey County Commission named Derek the Coffey County Newcomer of the Year for 2001 for his service in representing Coffey County in the Senate.  The Kansas Jaycees named Derek its Outstanding Young Kansan for 2002 for his leadership in the Kansas Senate.  The Kansas Alcohol and Drug Service Providers Association named Derek its 2001 Legislator of the Year for his work in strengthening laws against drunken driving and requiring repeat drunken drivers to undergo substance abuse treatment.  The Kansas Federation of Independent Businesses honored Derek in 2004 for his support for small businesses.  The Kansas Sheriffs' Association named Derek a Friend of Law Enforcement in 2005 for his work on public safety.  The Southeast Kansas Independent Living organization has honored Derek for his commitment to helping persons with disabilities.   Derek has been honored for his support of historical preservation, his support of higher education, and his leadership in helping meet the needs of Kansas children in the court system.

Derek also has been recognized as a national leader among state legislators.  The Council of State Governments selected him as one of a handful of outstanding legislators from around the country to receive a 2002 Henry Toll Fellowship and to travel to Lexington, Kentucky, for a week-long leadership development session.  The Midwest Legislative Conference selected Derek to participate in the 2001 Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development in Madison, Wisconsin.  Derek also serves on the board of directors for the State Legislative Leaders Foundation.  He also has been selected by the Aspen Institute as a Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership for 2008-09.

Growing Up in Southeast Kansas

Derek Larkin Schmidt was born January 23, 1968, at Mercy Hospital in Independence, Kansas.  He is the only child of Barbara and the late Bill Schmidt.  Derek is the fifth generation of the Schmidt family to call Montgomery County home since Derek’s great-great grandpa, Peter Schmidt, a Union veteran from the Civil War, opened a tin shop near the site of today’s Independence City Hall in 1886.  Family legend holds that when President Teddy Roosevelt made a whistle stop visit to Independence almost a century ago, he was served a drink of water in a tin cup specially made for him at the Schmidt Sheet Metal Shop (shown at right).

While Derek was growing up, his father, Bill, a one-time Independence mayor and city council member, owned and operated Potts Chapel-Schmidt Funeral Service in Independence and Darling & Burns Chapel in Cherryvale.  Derek’s mother, Barbara, taught piano lessons in their home and remains an active community volunteer.  The family operated a small retail business for many years.

Derek attended Lincoln and Washington elementary schools, Independence Junior High, and Independence High School, where he was valedictorian of his graduating class in 1986.  Derek became interested in government after his junior year in high school when he was selected as a delegate to the American Legion Boys State of Kansas, where his peers elected him governor. Derek was active in high school debate and forensics but spent most of his time outside of school working with his grandpa on the family farm and running a lawn care business with a friend.  They called their little business “L&D Lawn Care” and promoted it with the slogan, “First Class for Your Grass!”

Community College and the University of Kansas

After high school, Derek enrolled at Independence Community College and studied there for one year.  He was active in various campus activities and won several scholastic awards.  Only a few years later, in 1994, Independence Community College named him its outstanding alumnus.

Derek transferred to the University of Kansas for his sophomore year, where he soon went to work on the university newspaper, the University Daily Kansan, and eventually became its editor.  For a time Derek intended to become a journalist and worked during college breaks at various newspapers, including The Gary (Indiana) Post-Tribune, The Arizona Republic, and the Kansas City Star.  In 1990, the year Derek graduated from KU, the Kansas Associated Collegiate Press named him the Kansas Collegiate Journalist of the Year.  Derek worked hard as a KU student; he graduated with highest distinction and became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa national honor society (graduation photo at right).

Graduate Studies Overseas

As his time at KU drew to a close, Derek won the Ralph Kirchner Scholarship from District 6110 of Rotary International and with that support spent a year studying and earning his master’s degree in international politics from the University of Leicester (pronounced “Lester”) in England.  At the time, District 6110 included Rotary clubs in Cherryvale, Fredonia, Humboldt, Independence, Iola, and Neodesha.  In appreciation for the scholarship, Derek traveled to Rotary clubs throughout Southeast Kansas and presented talks regarding his studies abroad.

During his year in England, Derek discovered the value of travel.  He strongly believes that learning about other people and places around the world helps us to better appreciate and understand our home communities.  Seeing firsthand the devastation of war in Angola and Bosnia taught Derek the value of peace and security; travels to Russia and China helped him appreciate the great strengths of American democracy and of limited government; and journeys to Indonesia and India taught him the tragic dangers of poverty and underdevelopment.  In all, Derek has traveled to more than two dozen countries on five continents and intends to continue traveling in the future.

Georgetown Law School and the U.S. Senate

Derek returned from England and accepted a job in the Washington, D.C., office of U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kansas).  He worked five years on Kassebaum’s staff, advising her on energy and environment issues, federal budget issues, special Kansas projects, and foreign policy and national security matters (photo at right).  He regularly worked on federal issues affecting the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant in Coffey County, on natural resources conservation, and on policy affecting Kansas oil and gas producers.  While working full-time for Senator Kassebaum, Derek studied law evenings and weekends at Georgetown University Law Center.  He earned his law degree in 1996 and has since been admitted to practice law in Kansas, in the District of Columbia, and before the United States Supreme Court.

When Senator Kassebaum retired, Derek accepted a job as general counsel and legislative director for U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska).  As a then-new senator, Hagel relied on Derek’s legislative experience to help establish his Washington, D.C., legislative operation.  A highlight of Derek’s time in Washington was passage of the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act, which he drafted and helped shepherd through the legislative process.  This legislation, which is now law, establishes usable remedies and redress for veterans who are denied the hiring preference for federal jobs that long has been promised by law.  It was a project of special importance to Derek because a long-time friend from Independence, who is a veteran, had asked for Derek’s help on this matter.

Return to Kansas

On May 23, 1998, Derek married Jennifer (Shaw) Schmidt.  Derek met Jennifer, a native of Lenexa, Kansas, while both were living in Washington, D.C.  As Jennifer likes to quip, “We had to go 1,200 miles to get a date!” (wedding photo at right).

Soon after they were married, Derek and Jennifer moved home to Kansas.  Derek continued his public service and served for one year as an assistant attorney general for the State of Kansas.  Assigned to the Consumer Protection Division of the attorney general’s office, Derek prosecuted cases involving consumer fraud and deception and recovered thousands of dollars for Kansas consumers who had been bilked by con artists and fraudulent business practices. In late 1999, Governor Bill Graves (R-Kansas) asked Derek to assist him during the coming session of the legislature.  Derek agreed and spent the first four months of this year as Legislative Liaison and Special Counsel to the governor (photo at left).  Derek served as the governor’s chief agriculture liaison and worked with Kansas farmers and ranchers, with agriculture organizations, and with the legislature to enact several measures beneficial to Kansas agriculture.  Among the successful bills Derek worked on were legislation rewriting Kansas antitrust law to ensure that small farmers and ranchers are protected from competition-thwarting monopolies, a measure establishing low-interest production loans for cash-strapped farmers, and a measure restructuring the various commodity commissions and freeing them from state-government management.

Small-town lawyer

When Derek moved home to Independence in 2000, he entered the private practice of law.  He is now of counsel with the Independence firm Scovel Emert Heasty & Chubb.  Derek also manages several properties in Independence.  He and Jennifer have two daughters, Caroline and Claire.

Derek has been active in the American Council of Young Political Leaders.  He is a graduate of the Leadership Kansas program and has served on the Leadership Kansas Board of Trustees.  He serves on the board of directors for Independence Industries, Inc., and of Kansas Legal Services for Prisoners, Inc., and on the Community Advisory Committee for Public Television Station KTWU.  Derek is a member of the Independence Rotary Club.  He is a former Republican Party Precinct Committeeman and a current member of the Kansas Republican Party's executive committee.  In 2006, he took a leave of absence from the practice of law to be the first Simons Public Humanities Fellow at the University of Kansas, where he studied the rising influence of India on the global economy.  And he continues to spend time on the farm, work on his old John Deere tractor, and run errands in his grandpa’s 1954 pickup.