Background
Smith was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and moved to the state of Florida in 1975.
Smith was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and moved to the state of Florida in 1975.
He then joined the United States Army, serving in South of Korea, Panama, and in Saudi Arabia, where he served during Operation Desert Storm. After serving in Panama once more, Smith was stationed in Fort Bragg, located in North Carolina, before relocating to Fort Benning in Georgia, where he retired. He moved to Citrus County, where he began working as a security guard at the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant.
In 2010, Smith ran for the in the Republican primary against incumbent State Representative Ron Schultz.
He narrowly defeated Schultz by 399 votes, with 51% of the vote. Smith was unopposed in the general election.
When Florida House districts were redrawn in 2012, Smith ran for re-election in the newly created 34th District. He was opposed by former State Senator and Public Service Commissioner Nancy Argenziano, who ran as an independent candidate, despite serving as a Republican in the legislature.
In 2014, Smith was re-elected to the legislature without opposition, winning his third term entirely uncontested.
While serving in the legislature, Smith sponsored legislation that "would make it easier for Florida cattle ranchers and other owners of private property adjacent to state-owned land to exchange public parcels of equal value in return for conservation easements," which drew criticism from environmentalists. Additionally, he authored a bill that would "block welfare recipients from using their electronic benefit cards at places like casinos, bottle clubs, bingo facilities and strip clubs," declaring, "I don"t want you to get a lap dance on my dollar.".