Colin Schmitt

Schmitt was born on Staten Island and raised in Orange County, New York. He graduated from Valley Central High School in Montgomery, New York.^[4]

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics with minors in theology and religious studies from the Catholic University of America.^[5]

He started his political career in the office of then-Assemblywoman Ann Rabbitt. After graduating from the Catholic University of America in 2012, Schmitt joined the staff of State Senator Greg Ball, and later worked as the chief of staff for the town supervisor of New Windsor.^[6][7]

Schmitt is also a commercial real estate agent and a Sergeant in the Army National Guard.^[1]

Schmitt first ran for office in 2012, campaigning for the Assembly's 99th district.^[8] He lost in the primary to Goshen Mayor Kyle Roddey, who in turn lost in the general election to Democrat James Skoufis.^[9]

Schmitt ran for the same seat again in 2016.^[10] He won the primary uncontested but lost to Skoufis in the general election, 53% to 47%.^[11]

In 2018, after Skoufis had declared his campaign for the 39th district of the State Senate, Schmitt announced he would run for the 99th district for a third time.^[12] He defeated Democrat Matthew Rettig with 53% of the vote, and was sworn into the Assembly on January 9, 2019.^[13]

In 2020, Schmitt defeated Democratic challenger Sarita Bhandarkar to hold his seat winning all ten towns of that district that year.^[14][15]

Over the course of his four years in the NY Assembly, Schmitt passed 9 prime sponsored bills through the chamber and co-sponsored over 75 other's that passed the Assembly. Several of his bills that did not become law were more controversial, including an attempted ban on Critical Race Theory and classroom lessons that made students feel discomfort about racism,^[16] and a prohibition on mask guidance or mandates from New York state.^[17]

Following the 2020 election, Schmitt announced his candidacy for New York's 18th congressional district in the 2022 election.^[18][19] Schmitt was defeated in the general election by incumbent Democrat Pat Ryan in a close race.^[20] Schmitt was supported by local and national small business groups including NFIB.^[21] In addition to advocating for small businesses, Schmitt campaigned on support for police, tighter border security and tackling the fentanyl crisis.^[22][23]

Prior to announcing his run for Congress, Schmitt delivered send-off remarks to members of the Orange County Right to Life non-profit before they headed to the Washington, DC on January 6, 2021. The disclosure of this news resulted in immediate calls for Schmitt's resignation, which he resisted. Schmitt was not present in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021.^[24]

Following Election Day, numerous media outlets reported on the attempt by a firm connected to the DCCC to illegally access the military records of Republican elected officials and candidates for congress. Schmitt was one of the Republican candidates targeted by opposition research groups attempting to illegally access private military records. During the campaign some of Schmitt's records were used in a report by the Intercept questioning the use of the term "veteran" to describe Schmitt by certain political supporters.^[25][26]