Jan Schneider

Dr Jan Schneider (born June 3, 1947 in New York City) is a Democratic politician. She ran for United States Congress in Florida's 13th congressional district in 2002 and 2004. Both times she won the Democratic Primary, and lost to Katherine Harris in the open election. She ran again for the open seat in the same district in 2006.

Schneider received her BA from Brown University; an MA in international affairs from Columbia University; and a JD and a PhD in political science from Yale. She has been a practicing lawyer, a law professor, an international civil servant, a businesswoman and a policy adviser. She is also the author of two books on international environmental law and numerous articles.

Congressional Elections
Schneider won 45% of the vote in both the 2002 and 2004 elections, in a district of 32% Democrats. Her campaign captured the largest portion of the vote of any congressional challenger in the state of Florida. Additionally, in 2004 her campaign was outspent in both the primary (at a roughly four-to-one ratio) and the general election (at a roughly ten-to-one ratio). Schneider appeared on a Colbert Report special report on April 24, 2006.

In the 2006 primary she faced Christine Jennings, a former bank president, whom Schneider beat in the 2004 primary, 47 percent to 38 percent in a four-way race. Two years later, however, the party establishment backed Jennings. CQPolitics.com wrote that while Schneider had run game challenges to Harris as the Democratic nominee in 2002 and 2004 [her] strongest appeal was to more liberal elements of the 13th District constituency, and many Democratic officials thought Jennings’ business background would make her a more viable general election contender."  Jennings went on to defeat Schnieder 62 percent to 38 in the September 5 primary, but lost to Republican Vern Buchanan in the general election.

Jan Schneider ran No Party Affiliation in the Florida 13th congressional district in 2008. In an independent poll run on October 1, Schneider was polling at 9%, with 14% of independents backing her candidacy and 41% of Hispanics supporting her. Incumbent Congressman Vern Buchanan won re-election with 55.5% of the vote.