[1] Among his activities prior to his tenure as State Senator, Schimpf served in the U.S. Marine Corps, participated in the trial of Saddam Hussein, and was the Republican nominee for Illinois Attorney General in 2014.

Schimpf, the son of two school teachers, was born in 1971 at Scott Air Force Base[2] and raised in Waterloo, Illinois.

[3] In 2005, Schimpf was deployed to Iraq to serve as the chief American advisor to prosecutors in the trial of Saddam Hussein.

[3][6][7] Schimpf ran successfully for the 58th district seat in the Illinois Senate in 2016, defeating former Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon in the general election.

[10] His district included portions of Jefferson, Perry, Randolph, St. Clair, Monroe, Jackson, Union, and Washington counties.