In 1965,Schaefer was elected to the San Diego City Council and served until 1971. In 1968,he received the Republican nomination in California's 37th House district,but was defeated by incumbent Representative Lionel Van Deerlin. In 1971,he ran for mayor in the open primary,but received less than one percent of the vote. In 1974,he ran for the Republican nomination for Secretary of State in Nevada,but was defeated by Stanley W. Paher.[2]
In the 1980s,he moved to Maryland where he befriended William Donald Schaefer,who served as the mayor of Baltimore and Governor of Maryland,and Mike Schaefer believed that sharing a last name with him would help him politically,and following Schaefer's death in 2011 Mike filed a $28,000 claim to William's estate.[8] In 1986,he ran for the Republican nomination in Maryland's U.S. Senate election,but was defeated by Linda Chavez. He became a Democrat in 2004,and in 2006 again ran in Maryland's U.S. Senate election. He finished fifth out of 18 candidates in the Democratic primary,which was won by Ben Cardin.
In 2018,he initially sought to run for California's 54th State Assembly district,but later dropped out as he would rather remain in San Diego and ran in the Board of Equalization's 4th district.[10] He ran as a member of the Democratic Party and placed second in the top-two primary behind Republican state senator Joel Anderson. On November 6,2018,Schaefer unexpectedly defeated Anderson by a narrow margin;Anderson had spent over $300,000 to Schaefer's $25,000. This was attributed to the Democratic wave and Anderson being reprimanded for his comments to a female lobbyist.[11] Schaefer was re-elected to the Board in 2022,defeating fellow Democrat David Dodson.
In 1970,Schaefer was arrested for bribery and conspiracy in the 1970 Yellow Cab bribery scandal,but was later acquitted after an eleven-hour deliberation by a jury on January 21,1971.[11][16]
Schaefer bought properties in multiple states,including the Schaefer Hotel which he bought for $450,000. He was successfully sued by his tenants in Los Angeles for the low quality of his housing and they were awarded $1.83 million.[4][10]
In 1993,Schaefer was convicted of misdemeanor spousal abuse and was disbarred by the Nevada Supreme Court in 2001.[11] In 2015,he was ordered to pay $328 to his live-in landlord.[17]
In 2013,comedian Brad Garrett filed a restraining order against Schaefer,stating in his application:"As a celebrity,I am very concerned about stalkers who seek notoriety by associating themselves with me." Under the order,Schaefer is also banned from the MGM Grand Las Vegas.[18]
In 2025,tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey revealed that Schaefer had sent him numerous angry letters and had stated that he would not treat Luckey fairly on tax matters because Luckey had not invited him to a political fundraiser hosted in 2024. The chief counsel and executive director of the Board of Equalization said they would look into the matter. Schaefer also said he would exclude himself from participating in any matters related to Luckey or his interests,citing a threat of a lawsuit from Luckey,which Luckey denies making.[19]
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