# Patricia Rucker

Patricia Rucker is a Republican member of the West Virginia Senate for district 16.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: West Virginia Senate, district 16
- Serving since: 2016-12-01
- Current term: WV 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/61c66718-ebd4-4ded-827d-14b21ed01b0a

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/61c66718-ebd4-4ded-827d-14b21ed01b0a (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Rucker reported $250 in the 2026 cycle, in the bottom 5% of State Senate Republicans (median $46.2K).

## What Rucker says (WV 2025–26 session)

54 classified statements: 54 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Rucker | State Senate Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 3.7% | 2.3% | 80 of 354 |
| Policy criticism | 0.0% | 9.5% | 331 of 354 |
| Policy discussion | 37.0% | 37.3% | 174 of 354 |
| Bipartisanship | 0.0% | 2.3% | 311 of 354 |
| Credit claiming | 13.0% | 15.4% | 186 of 354 |
| Extreme labels | 1.8% | 1.3% | 73 of 354 |

Most discussed policy areas: Education 55% (State Senate Republicans 14%); Government Operations and Politics 15% (State Senate Republicans 17%); Taxation 15% (State Senate Republicans 7.1%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 10% (State Senate Republicans 5.0%); Economics and Public Finance 10% (State Senate Republicans 12%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.51 (standard error 0.02), from 458 donors and 675 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 73% of State Senate Republicans score lower.

## Votes (WV 2025–26 session)

799 roll calls. Attendance 99.8% (West Virginia Senate 97.9%). Party unity 98.5% (88%). 17 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-03-14 · voted yea · Passage · HB 4004 Creating the Recharge West Virginia Program · pass · https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/HB4004/
- 2026-03-14 · voted yea · Passage · HB 5277 Supplemental Appropriation to the Department of Health Facilities-Welch Community Hospital, William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital, and Mildred… · pass · https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/HB5277/
- 2026-03-14 · voted yea · Passage · HB 5694 Supplemental appropriation to Department of Education, fund 0313. · pass · https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/HB5694/
- 2026-03-14 · voted yea · Passage · HB 4009 Relating to the creation of the Portable Benefit Account Act · pass · https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/HB4009/
- 2026-03-14 · voted yea · Passage · HB 5288 Supplemental Appropriation to the Department of Agriculture-West Virginia Spay Neuter Assistance Fund from Special Revenue · pass · https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/HB5288/
- 2026-03-14 · voted yea · Passage · HB 5317 Supplemental Appropriation to the Department of Commerce - Division of Natural Resources from the Unappropriated Surplus Balance. · pass · https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/HB5317/
- 2026-03-14 · voted yea · Passage · HB 5381 Relating to developing a comprehensive energy development policy and plan for the Office of Energy · pass · https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/HB5381/
- 2026-03-14 · voted yea · Passage · HB 4245 Authorizing Certain Agencies of the Department of Revenue to Promulgate Legislative Rules · pass · https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/HB4245/
- 2026-03-14 · voted yea · Passage · HB 5307 Supplemental Appropriation to the Department of Tourism- Division of Culture and History from the Unappropriated Surplus Balance. · pass · https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/HB5307/
- 2026-03-13 · voted nay · Passage · HB 5537 Repealing obsolete and outdated sections of the Education code. · pass · https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/HB5537/

## Legislation (WV 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 350 bills: 329 reached committee, 59 passed one chamber, 29 passed both, 26 became law. Cosponsored 202. 16.9% of sponsored bills got out of committee (West Virginia Senate 25.9%; rank 23 of 34).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SR 64: Opposing China’s Misuse of UN Resolution 2758 (introduced, 2026-03-13) https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/SR64/
- SB 1084: Supplemental appropriation to Department of Tourism, fund 5450 (in committee, 2026-03-11) https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/SB1084/
- SCR 5: Requesting Joint Committee on Government and Finance study need for School Finance Transparency Commission (passed one chamber, 2026-03-14) https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/SCR5/
- SCR 6: Requesting Joint Committee on Government and Finance study certain grounds for divorce (passed one chamber, 2026-03-14) https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/SCR6/
- SB 1081: Establishing School Finance Transparency Commission (in committee, 2026-02-27) https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/SB1081/
- SB 1076: Authorizing municipalities to elect to participate in Municipal Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement System (introduced, 2026-02-23) https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/SB1076/
- SB 1065: Reforming licenses related to sale of alcohol and nonintoxicating alcohol products (passed one chamber, 2026-03-05) https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/SB1065/
- SB 1051: Creating Charter School Revolving Loan Fund (introduced, 2026-02-21) https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/SB1051/
- SB 1050: Creating WV Task Force on Election Integrity (in committee, 2026-02-21) https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/SB1050/
- SCR 4: Requesting Joint Committee on Government and Finance study security of WV elections (in committee, 2026-02-21) https://openstates.org/wv/bills/2026/SCR4/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $250 (State Senate Republicans median $46.2K). Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-10-24 · Post on X · https://x.com/ruckerforwv,Rucker4WV/status/2114009174942069232
- 2026-10-23 · Post on X · https://x.com/ruckerforwv,Rucker4WV/status/2113426775338254730
- 2026-10-19 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/ruckerforwv,Rucker4WV/status/2111979633465819449
- 2026-10-19 · Post on X · labels: personal attacks · https://x.com/ruckerforwv,Rucker4WV/status/2111980029450047671
- 2026-10-19 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/ruckerforwv,Rucker4WV/status/2111982088345846168
- 2026-10-18 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/ruckerforwv,Rucker4WV/status/2111775672297537788
- 2026-10-18 · Post on X · https://x.com/ruckerforwv,Rucker4WV/status/2111776688820330804
- 2026-09-10 · Post on X · https://x.com/ruckerforwv,Rucker4WV/status/2098096459392376937
- 2026-08-29 · Post on X · https://x.com/ruckerforwv,Rucker4WV/status/2093706036309803073
- 2026-08-05 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/ruckerforwv,Rucker4WV/status/2085001221761343721

## Links

- Official site: https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Senate1/lawmaker.cfm?member=Senator%20Rucker
- Campaign site: https://www.patriciarucker.com/
- X: https://x.com/ruckerforwv
- X: https://x.com/Rucker4WV
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RuckerForWV
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patricia.puertasrucker
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruckerforwv/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPWbsAuNmKlhzQ97Uy1Yg0A
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-rucker-908294156/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-puertas-rucker-3ab3247/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/61c66718-ebd4-4ded-827d-14b21ed01b0a