Kansas New Members 2025

Rep. elect-Derek Schmidt  (R-Kan.-2)

Date of Birth / Jan. 23, 1968  
Residence / Independence, Kan.  
Occupation / Partner at Husch Blackwell and former Kansas attorney general
Education / B.S., University of Kansas; M.A., University of Leicester (United Kingdom); J.D., Georgetown Law; S.J.D., University of Kansas Law
Family / Married to Jennifer with two daughters 

Former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, will serve the state’s 2nd Congressional District after beating Democrat Nancy Boyda, who previously held the seat more than a decade ago.  

Schmidt’s road to Congress includes decades of public service, beginning as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate. He spent 10 years in the Kansas state Senate, including six years as majority leader, before he was elected as Kansas’s 44th attorney general in 2010.   

As attorney general, Schmidt’s office argued eight cases before the Supreme Court, three of which he personally argued. He left the role in 2022 after three terms to mount a gubernatorial bid he narrowly lost to Gov. Laura Kelly (D).

In a farewell letter, he highlighted his office’s creation of a suicide-prevention app and strengthened enforcement capabilities in elder and child sexual abuse, in addition to challenges to the Affordable Care Act, vaccine mandates and emissions regulations.

He will replace Republican Rep. Jake LaTurner, who announced in April that he would not seek reelection. Schmidt breezed through the primary election, earning more than half of the state’s Republican votes.

— Ella Lee