Derek Schmidt, a Republican, has represented Kansas's 2nd District in Congress from January 3, 2025 on, and his bid for another term goes before voters on November 3, 2026. In his first year he helped pass, by a single House vote, 215 to 214, a One Big Beautiful Bill Act that takes $3.351 billion out of Kansas's federal Medicaid funding in its first decade, and he voted for the final version on July 3, 2025.
On seven roll calls along the way, both budget resolution votes included, the margin was small enough that Schmidt's vote settled it. The law cuts SNAP by $187 billion, adds 26,000 Kansans to the uninsured by 2034, and denies the full child tax credit to 46,000 children in Kansas's 2nd District; in April 2026 he voted for a House resolution celebrating it.
About Derek Schmidt
- Full name
- Derek Schmidt, Republican, shown on his Office of the Clerk member profile as representing the 2nd District of Kansas
- Current role
- Representative for Kansas's 2nd District, with committee seats on Armed Services, Small Business and the Judiciary
- In office since
- Has represented Kansas's 2nd District since he assumed office on January 3, 2025
- Seeking
- Another term representing Kansas's 2nd District, in what Ballotpedia lists as the general election on November 3, 2026
- Key votes
- The February 25, 2025 House budget resolution, adopted 217 to 215; the bill itself on May 22, 2025, 215 to 214; final passage on July 3, 2025, 218 to 214; and H.Res. 1156 on April 16, 2026, praising the law's tax provisions
What Derek Schmidt Is Responsible For
- Medicaid. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act's House passage came down to one vote, 215 to 214, with Derek Schmidt voting yes, and he voted for the law's final text on July 3, 2025; under it Kansas forfeits $3.351 billion in federal Medicaid money, money that serves the 116,700 Medicaid enrollees in Kansas's 2nd District, and KFF projects 26,000 more uninsured Kansans in 2034.
- Rural hospitals. Rural Kansas loses $1.083 billion in federal Medicaid dollars under the law Schmidt voted for, in a state with more rural hospitals at risk of closing than any other; in October 2025 Freeman Health System dropped a planned hospital in southeast Kansas, naming the law's "unpredictable impact" as one reason.
- Medicare. Schmidt's July 2025 vote went to the first law ever to end Medicare for people already eligible, refugees and asylees among them, and its tax changes move the projected depletion of Medicare's hospital fund one quarter earlier, still within 2033, a fund 589,686 Kansans on Medicare depend on.
- Nursing homes. Federal officials cannot enforce the nursing-home staffing standard before October 2034 under the law Schmidt voted for, which also cuts Medicaid, the program that pays for 60% of Kansas nursing-home residents.
- Disability and home care. Schmidt's yes decided both House votes on the budget resolution, 217 to 215 and 216 to 214, which instructed Medicaid's committee to find $880 billion; home care, an optional Medicaid benefit more vulnerable to cuts, already had 6,792 Kansans on waiting lists in 2026.
- Food assistance. SNAP shrinks by $187 billion, about 20 percent, through 2034 under the law Schmidt voted for; since it was signed, Kansas Appleseed counts 24,000 Kansans who lost SNAP, and at its current error rate the state will owe $40 million more toward benefits, Megan Leopold of Kansas Action for Children said.
- The child tax credit. Because their parents earn too little, 46,000 children in Kansas's 2nd District, 29%, are shut out of part or all of the child tax credit from the law Schmidt voted for, according to Columbia University researchers.
- Social Security. The program's chief actuary puts the law's effect on Social Security at $168.6 billion in added costs through 2034; with the retirement fund running short sooner, Kansans face an automatic cut averaging $520 a month for about 500,000 people earlier than before, after Schmidt's July 2025 vote.
- Student loans. Kansas borrowers moved from SAVE to the new Repayment Assistance Plan pay an average of $2,008 more a year, by the Center for American Progress's estimate; the plan was created by the House bill whose passage Schmidt's May 2025 vote decided.
- Taxes. As Thomson Reuters Checkpoint summarized the Congressional Budget Office's estimate, under the law Schmidt voted for "the top decile will receive a windfall of $13,600 every year" while the lowest-income households lose; in April 2026 he voted for H.Res. 1156, which says the bottom 40 percent got a 15 percent tax cut.
- Veterans. Veterans lost their exemption from SNAP's three-month time limit under the law Schmidt voted for, so those among the 7,000 Kansas veterans receiving SNAP who have no other exemption now face it.
- Energy bills and jobs. Ending the clean-energy credits, as the law Schmidt voted for does, could cost a typical Kansas household about $380 a year more for energy by 2035, according to Energy Innovation, and the firm estimates the law's energy provisions mean "Workers suffer 760,000 lost jobs by 2030."
- Planned Parenthood. For a year after the law Schmidt voted for took effect, Planned Parenthood received no Medicaid payments; nearly 30 of its health centers closed in that time and Medicaid visits dropped by a quarter, more than 250,000 visits, the organization reported.
- Immigration enforcement money. Schmidt voted for a law that "directs $170.7 billion toward immigration and border enforcement"; by March 2026 "nearly 70,000 people are in ICE detention, the highest number in several years", NPR reported.
- The consumer bureau. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding ceiling fell from 12% to 6.5% of its Federal Reserve benchmark under the law Schmidt voted for, roughly $446 million for fiscal 2025 instead of $823 million, the Congressional Research Service estimates.
- Silencers and short-barreled guns. Schmidt's July 2025 vote ended the $200 federal tax that applied to silencers and short-barreled long guns; a federal judge in Texas then ruled that the registration rules for those devices must fall, and although that ruling covered only the parties to the case, the Justice Department said on October 9, 2026 that it would stop enforcing registration nationwide.
How This Page on Derek Schmidt Is Sourced
Roll-call links on this page go to the Clerk of the House, for example the May 22, 2025 House passage vote. Figures for Kansas and the 2nd District link to their sources, such as KFF's Medicaid allocation by state and the Social Security Administration's Kansas congressional district tables, and national figures link to the Congressional Budget Office, KFF, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and other research groups, and the page was last updated on October 27, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions About Derek Schmidt
What is Derek Schmidt's record under Trump?
Derek Schmidt, who represents Kansas's 2nd District, provided deciding votes for the budget resolution and the one-vote House win for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and later cast a yes for the final law, which cuts Medicaid by $911 billion nationally and SNAP by $187 billion. Kansas's share of the Medicaid cut is $3.351 billion. In April 2026 he voted to praise the law's tax policies.
Did the Big Beautiful Bill pass the House because of Derek Schmidt?
Derek Schmidt's vote was the House margin: the bill passed on May 22, 2025 with 215 in favor and 214 against, with one member voting present, so his switch alone would have killed it. The final version cleared 218 to 214 on July 3, 2025, with his vote.
How much Medicaid money is Kansas losing because of Derek Schmidt's vote?
The law that got Derek Schmidt's vote strips $3.351 billion over ten years out of the federal Medicaid money Kansas expected, 9% of its share, $1.083 billion of it in rural areas. The REACH Healthcare Foundation estimates Kansas hospitals lose $2.65 billion over a decade.
What does Derek Schmidt's vote mean for families in his district?
Derek Schmidt's district, Kansas's 2nd, has 116,700 people on Medicaid, more than any other Kansas district, 59,100 of them children, and 159,870 people on Social Security. The law he voted for leaves 46,000 of the district's children with a partial child tax credit or none.
Did Derek Schmidt vote to cut food stamps?
Yes. Derek Schmidt voted for the final law cutting SNAP by $187 billion through 2034, and his February 2025 vote decided the budget blueprint instructing SNAP's committee to find at least $230 billion in deficit reduction. Since the law was signed, 24,000 Kansans have lost SNAP, Kansas Appleseed reports.
How did Derek Schmidt vote on the 2026 House resolution honoring the Big Beautiful Bill?
Derek Schmidt voted yes on H.Res. 1156 on April 16, 2026, which the House adopted 219 to 207 and which dubs the law the "Working Families Tax Cuts." By ITEP's analysis, the poorest fifth of Americans face a small tax increase on average under the law.
Last updated: 2026-10-27