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 Acting

Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania The secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (or "secretary of state") administers the Pennsylvania Department of State of the U.S. state (officially, " commonwealth") of Pennsylvania. The secretary is appointed by the governor subject to co ...

. He was a Philadelphia City Commissioner from 2012 to 2022.

Early life and background

A native of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, Schmidt graduated from

Allegheny College he, תגל ערבה ותפרח כחבצלת , mottoeng = "Add to your faith, virtue and to your faith, knowledge" (2 Peter 1:5)"The desert shall rejoice and the blossom as the rose" (Isaiah 35:1) , faculty = 193 ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in history, and from

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

with a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

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

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

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

Government Accountability Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal govern ...

(2001-2006).

Political career

Schmidt moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

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 Alan L. Butkovitz (born April 15, 1952) is an American politician from Pennsylvania. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the City Controller of Philadelphia from 2006 to 2018. He was also a member of the Pennsylvania House of Represen ...

City Commissioner

Schmidt was first elected as a Philadelphia City Commissioner 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. He was re-elected in 2015 and 2019. Schmidt refused to cooperate with the

attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election After Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, then-incumbent Donald Trump pursued an unprecedented effort to overturn the election, with support and assistance from his campaign, proxies, political allies, and many of ...

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

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

'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

January 6 Committee The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (the January 6th Committee) is a bipartisan select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives established to investigate the U.S. C ...

, 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

Josh Shapiro Joshua David Shapiro (born June 20, 1973) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the Pennsylvania Attorney General since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the governor-elect of Pennsylvania. Raised in Montgomery ...

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 Nov ...

by President Joe Biden for demonstrating "courage and selflessness" in opposing efforts to overturn the 2020 election as a City Commissioner.

Personal

Schmidt and his wife Erin have three children: Maggie, Grace, and Max.After polls close, a new arrival for Al Schmidt
''

Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'', November 7, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2023.

References

External links

* *
Pennsylvania Department of State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Al 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American politicians Allegheny College alumni American nonprofit chief executives Brandeis University alumni Businesspeople from Philadelphia Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Pennsylvania Republicans Philadelphia City Commissioners Place of birth missing (living people) Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Secretaries of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people)