Patricia Rucker

Patricia Puertas Rucker is a Venezuelan-American Republican serving in the West Virginia State Senate for District 16 (Jefferson County and parts of Berkeley County). Born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1974, she immigrated to the United States at age 6 when her father, Jose Puertas, an international correspondent for Agence France-Presse, was reassigned to Washington, D.C. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2004 and has served in the State Senate since 2017. A champion of school choice, she authored West Virginia's landmark Hope Scholarship, the nation's first universal education savings account program.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela. Father Jose Puertas was an international correspondent for Agence France-Presse; mother Haydee Puertas. Immigrated to the U.S. in 1981 at age 6. First-generation American citizen, naturalized in 2004. Most of her extended family still lives in Venezuela. Father returned to Venezuela every other summer during her childhood until the communist regime made visits impractical. Married 29 years to her husband; raised and homeschooled 5 children in Harpers Ferry, WV since 2001. Active at St. James the Greater Catholic Church.