1. Steve Schmidt is best known for working on Republican political campaigns, including those of President George W Bush, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Arizona Senator John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign.
38 Facts About Steve Schmidt
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Steve Schmidt was a vice chair at the public relations firm Edelman, where he advised CEOs and senior decision makers at Fortune 500 corporations, until he stepped down July 2018.
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Steve Schmidt became a political analyst for MSNBC in 2011, and appeared on the third season of Showtime's The Circus.
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Steve Schmidt has been extremely critical of President Donald Trump, and of the GOP for supporting him.
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In June 2018, Steve Schmidt renounced the Republican Party as "fully the party of Trump".
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In September 2020, Steve Schmidt predicted that violence would erupt as a result of Trump's election denial proclamations.
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Steve Schmidt is a founder of The Lincoln Project, a group founded to campaign against President Trump.
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The son of a schoolteacher and a telecommunications executive, Steve Schmidt grew up in North Plainfield, New Jersey, where he became an Eagle Scout, a tight end on the high school football team, a two-year member of the National Honor Society, and senior class vice president.
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Steve Schmidt attended the University of Delaware from 1988 through the spring of 1993, majoring in political science.
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Steve Schmidt left three credits short of graduation because he did not pass a math course; Schmidt has said that he has been diagnosed with a learning disability that makes higher math difficult for him.
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Steve Schmidt joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and worked on the 1992 gubernatorial campaign of Delaware Republican B Gary Scott.
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Steve Schmidt completed his final math course and received his degree in 2013.
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In 1995, Schmidt managed the unsuccessful campaign for Kentucky Attorney General of Will T Scott, who is formerly a Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court.
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From 1997 to 1998, Steve Schmidt was communications director for California State Senator Tim Leslie.
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In 2004, he was a member of the senior strategic planning group, led by White House adviser Karl Rove, that ran President George W Bush's re-election campaign; Schmidt oversaw the reelection "war room".
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In 2006, Steve Schmidt left the White House to become the campaign manager of the successful re-election campaign for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, following the firing of Mike Murphy, Rob Stutzman and Pat Clarey.
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In 2007, Steve Schmidt was named "Campaign Manager of the Year" by the American Association of Political Consultants.
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Steve Schmidt personally took charge of her debate preparations in the fall of 2008.
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In 2008, Steve Schmidt worked to handle accusations that McCain was having an affair with a lobbyist.
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In 2022, Steve Schmidt revealed he was deeply disillusioned with McCain by the end of the campaign and did not vote for him, and instead left his presidential vote blank.
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Steve Schmidt turned down all public appearances during the 2008 Republican convention as a protest against the party's stance on gay marriage.
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Steve Schmidt was hired by the American Civil Liberties Union in June 2013 to help spearhead the campaign to strike down state-based laws prohibiting same-sex marriage.
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In May 2018, when President Donald Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, sparking violent Gaza border protests, Steve Schmidt said Trump "has blood on his hands".
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On June 19,2018, Steve Schmidt formally withdrew from the GOP over Trump's policy of separating immigrant families at the US border with Mexico.
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Steve Schmidt cited Republican leadership for their failure to challenge the policy.
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On December 14,2020, Steve Schmidt announced he was joining the Democratic Party on his podcast, Battleground.
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Steve Schmidt helped advise Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips on the launch of Phillips' 2024 presidential bid, but was not a part of the campaign.
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Steve Schmidt serves on the board of the nonprofit research organization Just Capital alongside Arianna Huffington, Deepak Chopra, and others.
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Steve Schmidt parted ways with the podcast when Jordan and executive producer Adam Levine questioned Steve Schmidt about his role as adviser to potential 2020 presidential candidate Howard Schultz.
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Steve Schmidt is a founding member of The Lincoln Project, a Super PAC organized in 2019 by former Republican operatives opposed to Donald Trump's 2020 campaign for re-election.
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Steve Schmidt instead supported the 2020 campaign of Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
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Steve Schmidt stated he was stepping down from the board in order to make room for the appointment of a woman to the board as the first step to "reform and professionalize" The Lincoln Project.
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Since then, Steve Schmidt has criticized the media's coverage of the story, and the conduct of Galen, Steslow, Madrid, and Horn.
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In 2018, Steve Schmidt appeared on the third season of Showtime's The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth.
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In 2022, Steve Schmidt established a Substack newsletter entitled, The Warning.
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Steve Schmidt was portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the 2012 HBO film Game Change.
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Steve Schmidt himself voiced his approval of the film, saying that "it tells the truth of the campaign" and that watching the film was tantamount to "an out-of-body experience".
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Steve Schmidt has three children with his former wife Angela Schmidt.