Eric Schmitt

Eric Stephen Schmitt (born June 20, 1975) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Missouri since 2023.

He graduated from DeSmet Jesuit High School in 1993 and from Truman State University in 1997, with a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in political science.

At Truman, Schmitt was a member of the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity, played football and baseball, and was a founding member of Truman's Habitat for Humanity chapter.

He received a scholarship to attend Saint Louis University School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctor in 2000.

Schmitt was admitted to the Missouri bar in 2000.

He was a partner at the firm Lathrop & Gage, LLP in Clayton, Missouri.

From 2005 to 2008, Schmitt was an alderman for Glendale, Missouri.

Schmitt served as an alderman for Glendale, Missouri, from 2005 to 2008; he was one of two aldermen for Ward 3.

On November 4, 2008, Schmitt was elected to the Missouri Senate.

He served as member of the Missouri Senate from 2009 to 2017, representing the 15th district.

Following the 2010 census, Schmitt's district was redrawn, but still centered around central St. Louis County.

In 2010, Schmitt, who has a son with autism, supported a bill in the Missouri General Assembly that required health insurers to pay up to $40,000 annually to beneficiaries for applied behavioral analysis, a type of autism therapy.

Schmitt ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections in 2012.

In 2013, he introduced legislation that would halve the state's corporate income tax and reduce taxes on C corporations.

Schmitt and supporters promoted the tax as a way to match the Kansas experiment, while opponents called the taxes economically unsustainable.

The legislation, enacted in 2014, also lowered state income taxes by 0.1% beginning in 2018.

He represented the 15th district, which includes parts of central and western St. Louis County.

In 2015, he worked to enact legislation allowing Missouri residents to establish tax-exempt savings accounts for relatives with disabilities.

Governor Jay Nixon signed the bill in 2015.

In the State Senate, Schmitt championed tax-cut legislation.

He sponsored a major franchise tax cut, which passed.

In 2016, Schmitt was elected Missouri state treasurer.

In 2016, Schmitt sponsored S.B. 572, which set a limit on the percent of revenue that Missouri local governments could obtain from non-traffic fines (such as fines for violation of city ordinances).

The bill passed the state Senate in a 25–6 vote in January 2016.

After the Ferguson unrest, Schmitt said that too many municipalities overrelied on fines to raise revenue and fund their budgets.

He led the bipartisan legislative effort to bar cities, counties and law-enforcement agencies from setting traffic-ticket quotas.

Schmitt worked with Senator Jamilah Nasheed and others on the legislation, which passed the State Senate in February 2016 and was enacted into law.

Schmitt did not run for reelection to the Missouri Senate in 2016 because he was term-limited.

On November 13, 2018, Governor Mike Parson named Schmitt attorney general of Missouri after the incumbent, Josh Hawley, was elected to the United States Senate.

For the fall 2018 semester, Schmitt was an adjunct faculty member at Saint Louis University.

A member of the Republican Party, Schmitt served as the 43rd Missouri Attorney General from 2019 to 2023.

On November 3, 2020, Schmitt was elected to a full four-year term as attorney general.

As AG, he filed lawsuits to have the Affordable Care Act invalidated by courts and sued school districts and municipalities for implementing mask requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede, Schmitt joined other Republicans in falsely claiming fraud.

He supported failed lawsuits seeking to invalidate the 2020 election results.

He sued the Biden administration 25 times, with mixed outcomes.

He challenged the administration's policies, and signed onto an amicus brief that argued that LGBT people are not protected by workplace discrimination bans.

In March 2021, he announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate.

In 2022, Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Democratic nominee Trudy Busch Valentine.

Schmitt was born in Bridgeton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.