Albert Schmidt (born ) is an American politician and

election official An election official, election officer, election judge, election clerk or poll worker is an official responsible for the proper and orderly voting at polling stations. Depending on the country or jurisdiction, election officials may be identified ...

who is the current

Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania The secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (or "Secretary of state (U.S. state government), secretary of state") administers the Pennsylvania Department of State of the U.S. state (officially, "Commonwealth (U.S. state), commonwealth") of ...

, serving since 2023. He was a

Philadelphia City Commissioner The Philadelphia City Commissioners are three officials responsible for administering voter registration and conducting elections for Philadelphia County. The office was created to replace the Philadelphia County Commissioners following the Act ...

from 2012 to 2022. A member of the Republican Party, Schmidt refused to cooperate with efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which led him to be publicly attacked by then-President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. Schmidt provided testimony before the

January 6 Committee The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (commonly referred to as the January 6th Committee) was a select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives established to investig ...

in 2022. He was chosen to serve as Secretary of the Commonwealth by Governor

Josh Shapiro Joshua David Shapiro (born June 20, 1973) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 48th governor of Pennsylvania since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the attorney general of Pen ...

Early life and background

A native of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, Schmidt graduated from

Allegheny College Allegheny College is a private liberal arts college in Meadville, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1815, Allegheny is the oldest college in continuous existence under the same name west of the Allegheny Mountains. It is a member of the G ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in history, and from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

with a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

in history. He served as an analyst for the Presidential Advisory Commission on

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

Assets in the United States (1999-2001) and the

Government Accountability Office The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...

(2001-2006).

Political career

Schmidt moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 2005, and served as executive director of the Philadelphia Republican City Committee before stepping down in 2009 for an unsuccessful run for

City Controller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...

against Democratic incumbent Alan Butkovitz.

City Commissioner

Schmidt was first elected as a

in 2011, becoming the only Republican on the three-member municipal election board by winning the one seat reserved for a member who is not part of the majority political party in Philadelphia after he defeated the incumbent minority commissioner, Joseph Duda. He was re-elected in 2015 and 2019. Schmidt refused to cooperate with the

attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election After Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, Republican Party (United States), Republican nominee and then-incumbent president Donald Trump pursued an unprecedented ...

by publicly refuting claims of voter fraud and resisting calls from within his own party to stop counting mail-in ballots. He called some of President

's claims "fantastical" and "completely ridiculous allegations that have no basis in fact at all." On November 11, 2020, Trump directly attacked Schmidt on Twitter by claiming he "refuses to look at a mountain of corruption & dishonesty" in Philadelphia. After Trump's tweet, Schmidt testified that "my wife and I received threats that named our children, included my home address and images of my home, and threated 'sic''to put their 'heads on spikes.'" In late November 2021, Schmidt announced he would resign as a City Commissioner to become president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan, pro-democracy Philadelphia-based nonprofit group. On June 13, 2022, Schmidt testified before the

, detailing the threats against him and his family as well as addressing claims of voter fraud in Philadelphia during the 2020 election.

Secretary of the Commonwealth

On January 5, 2023, Schmidt was named by Pennsylvania Governor-elect

as the Secretary-designate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The following day, on January 6, 2023, Schmidt was awarded the

Presidential Citizens Medal The Presidential Citizens Medal is an award bestowed by the president of the United States. It is the second-highest civilian award in the United States and is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Established by executive order on N ...

by President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

for demonstrating "courage and selflessness" in opposing efforts to overturn the 2020 election as a City Commissioner. Schmidt automatically became full Secretary on June 29 after the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, stagger ...

failed to act within the constitutionally prescribed 25-legislative-day period to confirm his nomination. In January 2024, Schmidt ordered a court-appointed

special master In the law of the United States, a special master is an official appointed by a judge to ensure judicial orders are followed, or in the alternative, to hear evidence on behalf of the judge and make recommendations to the judge as to the dispositi ...

to demand $711,000 in legal reimbursements from the government of Fulton County stemming from a case where Fulton County's Republican commissioners improperly allowed a Trump-affiliated lawyer access to the county's voting machines in order to aid the attempted reversal of Trump's defeat in Pennsylvania. In February 2024, Shapiro tapped Schmidt to head Pennsylvania's Election Threats Task Force. Ahead of the 2024 elections, the newly created task force will operate as a collaborative effort between both federal and state law enforcement and administration officials working to combat election misinformation and threats against election workers.

References

External links

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Pennsylvania Department of State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Al Living people 1971 births 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century Pennsylvania politicians Allegheny College alumni American nonprofit chief executives Brandeis University alumni Businesspeople from Philadelphia Pennsylvania Republicans Philadelphia City Commissioners Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Secretaries of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania