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Linda Patterson (Arizona)

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Linda Patterson

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Elections and appointments
Last election

August 4, 2020

Education

Graduate

University of Oregon, 2001

Personal
Birthplace
Casper, Wyo
Profession
High school principal
Contact

Linda Patterson (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Arizona State Senate to represent District 11. She lost in the Democratic primary on August 4, 2020.

Patterson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Patterson was born in Casper, Wyoming. She earned a master's degree from Oregon State University in 1992 and a master's degree from the University of Oregon in 2001. Her professional experience includes serving as a high school principal. Patterson has also been a volunteer counselor for domestic violence survivors, a volunteer advocate for low-income students facing school suspension and expulsion, a consultant and trainer for Menucha Leadership Retreats, and a consultant for Re-Inventing High Schools. Her organizational affiliations include the World Wildlife Fund, Jane Goodall Roots and Shoot Projects, the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, the Jane DeWar Gorilla Foundation, the Pacific Whale Foundation, the ORCA Project, the Sea Turtle Conservancy, and the Research SCUBA Diver Initiative for Saving Coral Reefs.[1]

Elections

2020

See also: Arizona State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Arizona State Senate District 11

Incumbent Vince Leach defeated JoAnna Mendoza in the general election for Arizona State Senate District 11 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Vince Leach
Vince Leach (R)
 
54.4
 
72,563
Image of JoAnna Mendoza
JoAnna Mendoza (D) Candidate Connection
 
45.6
 
60,818

Total votes: 133,381
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 11

JoAnna Mendoza defeated Linda Patterson in the Democratic primary for Arizona State Senate District 11 on August 4, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of JoAnna Mendoza
JoAnna Mendoza Candidate Connection
 
57.4
 
14,957
Linda Patterson Candidate Connection
 
42.6
 
11,080

Total votes: 26,037
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 11

Incumbent Vince Leach advanced from the Republican primary for Arizona State Senate District 11 on August 4, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Vince Leach
Vince Leach
 
100.0
 
29,794

Total votes: 29,794
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign finance

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Linda Patterson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Patterson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

1. High School Teacher: Law, Government, Sociology, Psychology, US History. "Teacher of the Year".

2. High School Intervention and Post High School Planning Counselor. "Staff Member of the Year". 3. High School Assistant Principal: Curriculum, Assessment, Staff Development, School Reform. "Administrator of the Year". 4. High School Principal: Reforming and Reinventing Schools.

5. Stanford University: School Design and Reform. School Site Administrator in three states. 6. University of Oregon: Public Administration. School Principal Endorsement. "Magna Cum Laude". 7. Oregon State University: MS, Therapeutic and Intervention Counseling. "Summa Cum Laude". 8. Washington State University: Double Major in Social Science and Secondary Education. "Cum Laude".

Environmental Activist Political Activist Endangered Species Activist Domestic Violence Activist

Minority Student VolunteerAdvocate in School Suspension/Expulsion Hearings
  • Focusing On Our Future: Public Education, Healthcare, Climate&Water Crisis, Infrastructure, Public Lands.
  • Clean Election Candidate: I will not accept one cent of Special Interest, PAC or Dirty Money -because I know that Big Money has Corrupted Our Democracy.
  • Experience Matters! Character Matters! Dedication Matters! Representing LD 11 Constituents Matters!
1. Public Education

2. Strong Economy
3. Accessible and Affordable Healthcare
4. Reinventing Law Enforcement
5. Climate and Water Crisis
6. Human Rights and BLM
7. Environmental Sustainability
8. Representative Democracy
9. Outlaw Dirty Money and Special Interests Negative Effect on Our Democracy

10. Ethics
My admiration for leaders who possess the acute ability to inspire others have always resonated with me. They are great communicators who use their words to lift me to a higher purpose. They are able to motivate me and make me better. The following are leaders who have played this role in my life; their message to me is described following their names:

1. Mahatma Gandhi: Brave Determination in the Midst of Great Challenge.
2. Amelia Earnhardt: Creative Innovation.
3. Nelson Mandela: Humble Sacrifice.
4. Martin Luther King Jr: Peaceful Activism to Influence Significant Change.
5. Mother Theresa: Heroic Virtue that Inspired the World.
6. Dalai Lama: Happiness Comes from Compassion for Others. Develop A Warm Hart to Inspire Others.
7. Angela Merkel: Rational Leadership Leads Through Crisis.

8. Gabriella Giffords: Servant Leader and Agent for Societal Change.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R.Covey

This is a principle-centered approach to solving the issues of our times.
1. Trustworthiness, honesty

2. Ethical Standards
3. Listening to all Constituents. Servant Leadership
4. Lifelong Learner who makes decisions on pure data, relevant research and best practices.
5. Compassionate and Dedicated Leadership
6. Visionary
7. Collaborative
8. Principled
9. Representative of constituents' needs

10.Informed
1. Ethical Leadership

2. Dedicated to work for constituents
3. Reliance on valid research, data and best practices to inform decisions
4. Ability to work for win-win solutions
5. Accessibility to constituents
6. Responsibility to work tremendous hours to get the work of the people completed

7. Ability to work for bi-partisan solutions
I was five years old when my grandmother and I survived a United Airlines Airplane Crash that killed 44 individuals and injured 62 others. It was a hallmark moment in my life.

I will never forget the entire sequence of events that defined a part of my life in which the terror of experiencing a violent crash, working my way out the airliner, and reuniting with my grandmother outside the burning plane made me immediately realize my gratefulness to those who helped me escape, my love for my family and my compassion for those who were less fortunate than me. As my grandmother and I walked across the tarmac to the terminal, we were picked up by a truck in which a mother and her very badly burned baby were inside. My five year old eyes were immediately impacted by her suffering. I felt immediate compassion for both of them.

This event defined to my life. Looking back on that event and analyzing the pathways from which my life evolved, I now realize that I attained characteristics that influenced me forever. My desire to be of service to others grew from the deep appreciation to the strangers who saved my life by getting me out of the plane and back into my grandmother's arms. The genuine love I hold for all of my family is recognition for the fact that my grandmother was steadfast to make me feel safe in that moment. Being able to perceive the needs of others was born out of the moment I witnessed the baby in distress. My commitment to serve others came from maturing throughout my childhood and realizing that I was so well-served on that horrendous day. Finally, my ability to persevere through tough challenges in my life is directly related to surviving the plane crash.

In reflection, I became a teacher, counselor and principal to "pay it forward". I have always been committed to others and take particular interest into serving those face challenges and are suffering. I have been as dedicated to them as the strangers who positively impacted mylife
My career as an Educator began as a High School Government, Law, Modern Problems, US History, Personal Finance and Sociology Teacher. I had a keen interest in making the subject matter compelling, relevant and thought provoking. In this regard, my goal was to light a fire in every student enrolled in my classes to enable them to become interested enough so they could gain knowledge, compare and contrast issues, analyze concepts, and synthesize into higher levels of thinking. Within this context, it was necessary for me to individualize learning so very student in the class could reach higher levels of achievement, based on the reading and writing abilities they brought to the classroom. It was passionate and rewarding work because students grew and believed in themselves. I was awarded as "Teacher of the Year" twice as recognition for my dedication and passionate teaching.

After many years in the classroom, I decided that I could make a positive difference in the lives of students as a High School Counselor. I was assigned a caseload of 320 students in which I met with each of them and their parents every semester to build/revise a four-year academic program, tailored to each of their goals beyond high school. In their senior year, I assisted them in developing comprehensive plans to enter the world of work, the service, apprenticeships, workplace training, community college and university pursuits. I also was a trained therapist and met with students in times of struggle, providing counseling, referral to community caregivers, and the like. This work also required great passion and dedication and I was recognized as "School Staff Member of the Year".

As a High School Principal I was highly regarded for re-inventing high schools. I led a high school staff in visioning how we could reform the curriculum, activities and classroom into Career Academies. the dropout rate declined, attendance, and the graduate rate improved. "Administrator of t
Dalai Lama Quotes

A favorite book as it reduces what is genuinely important in our lives in simple, common sense values. It causes me to focus and ponder on the meaning of life.
Siddhartha. The passionate and meaningful story of a child's journey of determining what is genuinely important about our lives.
I had an untreatable health condition for 35 years. Fortunately I was cured of this through Deep Brain Stimulation. This experience will make me a better legislator as it relates to healthcare.
1. Arizona has both a Senate and a House of Representatives. 30 Senators serve and 60 Representatives serve two year terms.

2. Both chambers can introduce bills. However, if as bill has been refined or revised in the process of becoming a law, the Senate determines whether a bill will be assigned to a to conference committee or to consider amendments.

3. Legislators represent a legislative district the differs in amount. Two House of Representative members represent constituents and one senator represents constituents.
I believe in the concept of a "Citizen Legislature" whereby any citizen who meets the legal regal requirements for serving can run for the legislature. In theory, these individuals should be extremely aware of the political process, the necessity to be ethical, capable of representing his/her constituents, astute in bipartisanship and other proficiency standards.

In Arizona, the concept of Citizen Legislator is not working well as many get elected and do not possess the skills and abilities to serve free of outside influences like Dirty Money and unethical special interests. Unfortunately, legislators can become beholden to these sources to the demise of their constituents. Experienced legislators can also pursue these same avenues. In my opinion, democracy is not well served when this occurs.

Experienced legislators can be very beneficial to the legislative process as with experience can result in an acute ability to legislate, reach consensus and propose laws that work well for their constituents. Coalitions can be successful formed to benefit the greater good. Above all, I strongly believe great legislators have the capacity to depend on valid research, appropriated data and best practices to guide their stewardship.

Ethical and proficient legislators are necessary in order for great democracy. Both first year legislators and experienced legislators are beneficial...it merely depends on the skill set he/she brings to the state legislature. I am confident that I am just that one of those individuals.The skill set and experience I will bring to the state senate is impressive. It is my pledge to represent constituents, refrain from donations from special interests/ dirty money and am a proven leader. My experience in Public Service is compelling.

Public Education Funding

Accessible and Affordable Healthcare
Climate Change
Inadequate Sources of Water.
Stewardship of Public Lands
Human Rights

Freedom from Pandemics
1. Determined to make a positive difference in the lives of Arizonans.

2. Cooperative
3, Collegial
4. Shared Leadership
5. Free from outside influences

6. Win-Win
it is not only beneficial but imperative! Bi-Partisanship is required in a functional democracy and legislators just cannot be effective if they do not build relationships with others. Just imagine if legislators acted like the current president...No one is an island. We are all part of a whole that best serves our democracy.






































Redistricting has become extremely political over the past few decades and it is time to re-invent the process. In particular, Arizona has become overly-gerrymandered to support the Republican Party over all others. Consequently, this political party has been able to have its way and has had a hold on all aspects of state governing, policy and law for too long. It is time for change.

Our democracy was based on the beliefs of "One Person, One Vote". Representative Democracy.
Participatory Governing. Unfortunately, our state and nation has been hijacked from these principles, to the point where our democracy is severely threatened. Since 2016, we have experienced how the soul of our democracy has been stolen. Re-Inventing this process is necessary.

I suggest a new State ReDistricting Commission be developed to study this issue and make recommendations to the people of of our state to vote upon prior to the end of 2020. This commission must consist of the best minds in Arizona, must be independent-thinkers and not beholden to political party, special interests,

Representative Gabrielle Giffords

Senators Victoria Steele, Lisa Otondo, Jamescita Peshlakai, Martin Quezada.

Representatives Charlene Fernandez, Domingo De Grazia, Mitzi Epstein, Randall Friese, Jennifer Jermaine, Geraldine Peten, Arlando Teller.
No. I want to Serve in the State Legislature as that is where I can make the largest contribution to Arizona residents.
When I served Thanksgiving Dinners last November I met an individual who captured my heart. Her story is compelling and describes how one with extensive personal challenges can still find the way to advocate for herself and her family with perseverance, love and kindness.

Jennifer is a mother of one who married her high school sweetheart. They dated for four years prior to graduating from high school and getting married after an unexpected pregnancy. Life has always been difficult for her because it has been difficult to live as an impoverished mother. She was a victim of extreme domestic violence, lacking self-esteem - a young woman who found the courage to leave her husband after realizing that her son was suffering from the anger of his father.

She has persevered in the midst of these challenges because she is capable of reaching out to assist others and compassionate about finding resources for young children. In fact, when she was in a domestic violence shelter she assisted other women in gaining access to Kid Start for their children to gain nutritional meals, education and social services. She is beloved by these women who credit her with providing the resources for them to succeed in their pursuit of independent living.

She inspired me because of her commitment to her child and to others in the midst of displacement and insecurity. So many women face similar challenges in our society. Her courage and commitment to change her life is an example of personal traits that enable her to move forward.

As a future legislator I will remember her story and use it as motivation to ensure that safety nets for those experiencing tremendous challenge must be available consistently. I pause to wonder where Jennifer and her son would be without these resources.

We can always do better for residents in our state. I pledge that I will!

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 14, 2020


Current members of the Arizona State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Warren Petersen
Majority Leader:Janae Shamp
Minority Leader:Priya Sundareshan
Senators
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
Eva Diaz (D)
District 23
District 24
District 25
Tim Dunn (R)
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
Republican Party (17)
Democratic Party (13)