Louis Schmitt Jr.
Louis C. Schmitt Jr. is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the Pennsylvania [House of Representatives, District 79|79th] district from 2019 to 2026.
Early life and education
Schmitt was born on March 21, 1962, in the Dutch Hill neighborhood of Altoona, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Altoona Area High School in 1980. Schmitt earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and history from Saint Francis University in 1984 and a Juris Doctor from the University of [New Hampshire School of Law|Franklin Pierce Law Center] in 1987.Career
From 1993 to 2018, Schmitt was a law partner at McIntyre, Hartye, Schmitt, and Sosnowski. He was elected to represent the 79th Pennsylvania House of Representatives District in 2018 [Pennsylvania House of Representatives election|2018]. In the primary, he faced off against Sharon Bream, a school board member for the Altoona Area School District. He defeated Bream on May 15, 2018 by a near 2–1 margin.In 2020, Schmitt faced no Republican primary challenge. A Democrat, Jason Runk, filed petitions and appeared on the ballot, but disappeared from the public eye following Facebook controversy. Schmitt again won the Republican primary in 2022 unchallenged, and faced no Democrat challenger in 2022. In 2024, Schmitt won again with no challenger.
In January 2025, Rep. Schmitt announced his candidacy for an open Court of [common pleas (Pennsylvania)|Court of Common Pleas] seat within Blair County. Pennsylvania statute allows Common Pleas candidates to cross-file on the Republican and Democrat ticket, and Schmitt obtained a place on the ballot on both. He faced attorney Mike Routch, attorney John Sisto, and MDJ Paula Aigner, who all cross-filed. After winning the election he resigned from the Pennsylvania House in December 2025 to assume the position.