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Wendy Schmeling
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Wendy Schmeling (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Florida's 18th Congressional District. She lost in the Republican primary on August 23, 2022.
Schmeling completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Wendy Schmeling was born in Syracuse, New York. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1997 and a graduate degree in 1999 from Charleston Southern University. Her career experience includes working as a teacher for Polk County schools. She has been affiliated with Defend Florida, Florida Republican Assembly, and Moms For Liberty.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Florida's 18th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Florida District 18
Incumbent Scott Franklin defeated Keith R. Hayden Jr. and Leonard Serratore in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 18 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Scott Franklin (R) | 74.7 | 167,429 |
 | Keith R. Hayden Jr. (No Party Affiliation)  | 25.3 | 56,647 | |
 | Leonard Serratore (No Party Affiliation) (Write-in) | 0.1 | 158 | |
| Total votes: 224,234 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 18
Incumbent Scott Franklin defeated Jennifer Raybon, Wendy Schmeling, Kenneth Hartpence, and Eddie Tarazona in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 18 on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Franklin | 73.1 | 44,927 |
 | Jennifer Raybon | 10.7 | 6,606 | |
 | Wendy Schmeling | 6.7 | 4,099 | |
 | Kenneth Hartpence | 6.5 | 3,999 | |
 | Eddie Tarazona | 3.0 | 1,864 | |
| Total votes: 61,495 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- George Shepherd (R)
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Wendy Schmeling completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Schmeling's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a teacher of 20 years. I teach history and civics. I am an America First Patriot. Our children need to be educated with reading, writing, math, civics, true history, & science; not indoctrinated with critical theories and common core. Parents have rights to the education of their children. I am for School Choice and for returning education to the states and the people. We need vocational education back in our schools. I am a Constitutionalist in full support of the Bill of Rights, including our 2nd Amendment. Our nation is a Republic and we need to keep it so with Rule of Law, Popular Sovereignty, and the Consent of the Governed. We The People are in charge of our government and we elect representatives to serve us. I support Election Integrity. I've been a Conservative Republican since I first voted at age 18. I am an ordained minister and an unashamed Christ follower. I have a servant's heart and have lived a life of public service. I am pro life from the womb to the tomb. I am the daughter of a marine. I fully support our veterans and our military because they have sacrificed so much for us. I stand for Law and Order and fully support our Police. I am for secure borders and a border wall to stop Human Trafficking, the drug crisis, and criminal activity. I am for Sheriffs and DA's who are tough on crime and punish criminals in accordance with the law. I am for America First in Energy, the Economy, and Education. Let's Save America and Make Education Great Again!
- I am for education and not indoctrination. In 1916, the federal government took over education. Later, the Department of Education was created. We need to abolish the DOE. It has indoctrinated our students with Socialist, Marxist, and Communist ideologies. Education is not in the Constitution, so it is a power that is reserved to "We The People" and the states in accordance with the 9th and 10th Amendments. I will write a bill to abolish the DOE, all forms of Critical Theory, and return education to "We The People" and the states.
- I am a Constitutionalist. Our nation is best governed when everyone follow the Rule of Law. Not one of us are above the law, including elected officials. We need to return to the Constitution and enforce every right therein. This government belongs to "We The People." Our representatives are elected by us to serve and represent us. This has not been happening. We need term limits for Congress, because so many members have abused their position and stayed in office for decades. I will write a bill to set term limits on Congress. This will stop career politicians from serving themselves instead of "We The People."
- I am for America First. Our nation is the best nation on planet earth. We were number one in energy independence. Our military was the best equipped in the world. Our economy was the best that is had been in over 50 years. Unemployment was at an all time low. Everyday prices and expenses were low. Taxes were low. Our border was secure and illegal immigration was under control. The American people were living their best life. Then, the Biden administration changed all of it.
I am passionate about education. As a teacher of 20 years, I have been bullied and cancelled by woke administrations who seek to push agendas on our students. I have been threatened to lose my job by administrations that want me to to conform to their corruption. I have had principals demand that I change and fix student grades to make their graduation rates look better. The American education system is not what is once was. Education is in the forefront of the issues that plague America in 2022. We have seen parents attacked, bullied, and labeled as "domestic terrorists." It has recently been discovered that parents were indeed placed on the FBI watch list just for speaking up at their local school board. This is wrong! It is time to take back control of our schools. Our school districts are corrupt and top heavy. School Taxes are mismanaged and not appropriated efficiently to our schools, students, and teachers. Instead, district office employees receive excessive salaries for sitting in an office making policies that have nothing to do with true education. I am proposing we do away with this system and return to a privatized system governed by teachers and parents. We need to cut out all of the waste in the middle.
My mom is my hero, because she was a single mom that raised myself and my 2 siblings. We escaped the trauma of domestic abuse at the hands of my father. My mom had to start from scratch once we left with nothing but our lives and the clothes on our backs. He did not make it easy for her. She had to get her driver's license, a job, and a place to live. She had to do this while having been a victim and a survivor. This has battle hardened me and taught me how to be strong against all manner of controlling and manipulating people and organizations. I have true grit and intestinal fortitude because of what I have been through.
I would recommend visiting my website at: wendyschmeling.org as well as my social media account on twitter at: @wendy_schmeling and on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/WendySchmelingForCongress
Elected officials must be honest, humble, and their word must be kept. Too many politicians have said one thing and done another. Too many have lied, or told half truths, and far too many have become arrogant and full of pride.
I am honest. I have integrity. I am a people person. I love my country and want to save it. As a Civics teacher, I know the Constitution. If it is not in there, then the federal government has no business doing it.
The core responsibilities for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives are first. to remember that they were elected to represent the people of their district. Second, they need to do just that and actually serve the people. They must always keep the people in mind with each and every vote and each and every bill that they propose and sponsor. Finally, they must stay connected to the people to inform them of the issues going on in our capital. It is the people's capital, so it is the job of a representative to keep in contact with the people to best be able to serve them.
I hope that the legacy I leave behind is a love for the Constitution. I believe the members of Congress should have to take a Civics literacy test and pass it to be on office. There should be a penalty for members who break their oath to the Constitution. I hope to leave Congress better than I find it. I hope that it will be said of me that I was the fierce mama bear who returned education to the states and abolished the Department of Education.
The most significant historical event that happened in my lifetime was the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. The entire crew was lost, including the first teacher in space. It was such a sad day. I was 10 years old. My family just returned from Florida, where we had visited Kennedy Space Center to see the launch of space shuttle Columbia.
My first job was when I was in college. I worked at Hallmark part time, while I went to school full time. I worked there until I graduated from college. I was trusted by my employer and made a store manager and closer, responsible for balancing the accounts and registers, and making the night deposits.
My favorite book is still the number one best seller of all time! It is the Bible. There is so much truth and love found on those pages. It's because the Bible is not just a book written by some random author. It is the love story of our creator to us. The words found inside are life. There is power in those words to set us free and give us peace.
The song that got stuck in my head is from Encanto. It's the "We don't talk about Bruno" song. It is ironic because I just found out through a DNA/Ancestry search that I had a Bruno in my family and nobody wanted to talk about him either.
A struggle in my life is in trusting people and maybe even being too trusting of some people. Not everyone is for you. You have to have spiritual wisdom and discernment to be able to tell the difference. Then, you have to be willing to set up healthy boundaries. Not everyone needs to be in your inner circle.
The U.S. House of Representatives was uniquely created by our Founding Fathers to represent the people of our nation. Representation is based upon population. This was an amazing compromise that was reached in the founding of our government to settle the difference between big states and small states. I tell my students in Civics and U.S. History that our founders were far beyond their time in the creation of a bicameral legislature.
No, we need representatives from among the people. Career politicians have put us in the predicament that we find ourselves in today. All we need are America First Patriots who love America and want to save it from certain destruction.
America needs to get back to an America First agenda. We need to reopen the keystone pipeline and secure our energy independence. We need to secure the southern border and finish the wall. We need to stop illegal immigration, which is up over 400%. Last year, 23 terrorists were apprehended by border patrol agents. However, for every terrorist that is apprehended, 4 more get through and into our country. Human trafficking cases are up. Women and children are being abused and used against their will. The drug crisis is killing Americans, as fentanyl streams across our southern border. The American family cannot survive in our current economy. Mothers cannot get baby formula for their babies. Yet, pallets of formula have been shipped to the southern border and to Ukraine. We have to cut spending and lower taxes to get the heavy weight off the backs of the American people. We have to buy and produce American products and services once again. We have to strengthen our military by giving them the best of the best resources and pay. We need to take better care of our vets. Their medical care should be second to none, in light of their sacrifice for our nation.
I definitely want to join the education committee. Our education system is broken. We must abolish the Department of Education and return education to the states.
I am not a current representative.
Yes, I believe 2 years is the right term length for representatives. We just need to add term limits to stop career politicians from returning over and over to Congress.
I am 100% for term limits. I believe U.S. Senators should be limited to 2 terms. Each term is 6 years. (12 years total). I believe U.S. Representatives should be limited to 5 to 6 terms. Each term is 2 years. (10-12 years total). The Constitution sets term limits for the President at 2 terms; 4 years each term, plus 2 years if serving the remainder of the previous President's term (10 years total). I also believe term limits should be set on justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. The Constitution allows them to serve for life, with good behavior. However, many overstay past their age of true effectiveness. Justices should also be limited to a total of 10 to 12 years.
Yes, I want to model myself after Kat Cammack. She is a bold and fierce Congresswoman. I love how honest she is with her late night posts on bills that were voted on and what is in them. We need more representatives like her.
The stories I hear over and over again from the residents of my district are stories of struggle. Struggle to pay for gas. Struggle to put food on the table. Struggle to provide for the family. Struggle to survive and not thrive. Struggle from paycheck to paycheck. Struggle to keep a home. It all comes down to struggle.
Compromise is a slippery slope. In Congress, too many members have made compromises to appease their PAC's and lobbyists. This has placed us in the position we are in today. We have seen a revolving door of politicians go the Washington with the best of intentions only to become corrupt and part of the political machine. It is time for America First Patriots to replace corrupt politicians, who keep wasting out hard earned money on pork packed bills that fund corrupt elections and foreign nations. I will not compromise. I will stand on the principles of our Constitution. I will not be bought. I will serve the people who elect me to office.
This Constitutional principle is key to self government. The U.S. House of Representatives was meant to have the closest contact to the people of that district because of the very nature of representation. I take this role very seriously. My priorities are always to serve my constituents. I will not vote for bills that are packed full of pork to place further burdens on the people. This would not be fiscally responsible.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Schmeling's campaign website stated the following:
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Wendy's Platform:
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| —Wendy Schmeling's campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. House Florida District 18 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 22, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Wendy Schmeling for Congress, “Priorities,” accessed August 20, 2022
Senators
Ashley Moody (R)
Rick Scott (R)
Representatives
District 1
Jimmy Patronis (R)
District 2
Neal Dunn (R)
District 3
Kat Cammack (R)
District 4
Aaron Bean (R)
District 5
John Rutherford (R)
District 6
Randy Fine (R)
District 7
Cory Mills (R)
District 8
Mike Haridopolos (R)
District 9
Darren Soto (D)
District 10
Maxwell Frost (D)
District 11
Daniel Webster (R)
District 12
Gus Bilirakis (R)
District 13
Anna Luna (R)
District 14
Kathy Castor (D)
District 15
Laurel Lee (R)
District 16
Vern Buchanan (R)
District 17
Greg Steube (R)
District 18
Scott Franklin (R)
District 19
Byron Donalds (R)
District 20
District 21
Brian Mast (R)
District 22
Lois Frankel (D)
District 23
Jared Moskowitz (D)
District 24
Frederica Wilson (D)
District 25
District 26
District 27
District 28
Carlos Gimenez (R)
Republican Party (22)
Democratic Party (8)
