Patricia L. Morgan Rhode Island State Representative
Patricia Morgan for Governor.
Podcasts: LPR
LATINO PUBLIC RADIO ANNUAL POLITICAL BARBECUE “BARBACOA POLITICA”
MEET PATRICIA
Throughout her life, Patricia Morgan has been an educator, a small business owner and a lifelong community leader. But her most important title is mom and her favorite title remains grandma.
Growing up in a working-class family in a small, rural Ohio town, Patricia, the youngest of three sisters, was raised to appreciate the importance of hard work, family values and responsibility.
Her father, a WWII veteran from the 82nd Airborne, worked making tires at the Firestone Tire and Rubber factory. He and her mother, a war bride from England, knew they wanted a better life for their daughters and they instilled in Patricia the value of hard work and the importance of a good education.
School has always been an important part of Patricia’s life. She has an abiding appreciation in the power of a good education to change lives for the better. She attended Kent State University with an academic scholarship from Firestone and earned a BA in English from the Honors College. Later she received a M.Ed. in special education from Rhode Island College and a principal’s certificate from Providence College.
Patricia’s career as a special education teacher began at George Washington Carver Junior High School in Meridian, Mississippi. During the three years she spent in the classroom there, she used innovative techniques and cheerful persistence to prepare her students for independent lives.
Married to a Naval aviator, Patricia lived next in Florida and finally was transferred to Rhode Island, where she has made her permanent home, raising her three sons in West Warwick. Always interested in helping her community, she revitalized Pack #22 Phoenix, which grew during her 8-year tenure as Cubmaster from four Tiger cubs to 65 cub scouts and she participated in numerous civic events and organizations.
As her sons grew, she returned to teaching at Cranston High School West. For the next decade, she was dedicated to helping young students develop the necessary life skills for success. One afternoon Patricia found herself at a job fair filling in for her oldest son who was finishing his studies at Villanova University. Gathering applications and information, she spoke to the branch manager from Smith Barney who asked her if she had ever thought about switching careers. That question resulted in a career change. For the past two decades, Patricia has worked as a financial advisor, helping families keep their investments and retirements safe.
Patricia has always been interested in public service, having served as a former Chairman of the West Warwick Republican Town Committee, former President of the RI Chapter of the National Federation of Republican Women, and ultimately as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Rhode Island.
Believing that women should play an equal role in worldwide democracies, Patricia has traveled with the Women’s Democracy Network, an initiative of the nonpartisan International Republican Institute, to many countries including Turkey, Ukraine, Jordan, Serbia, Moldova and Thailand to increase women’s political and civic leadership.
Closer to home, Patricia became concerned that our state leaders were promoting policies that made the lives of working class Rhode Islanders harder, instead of making them better. She stepped forward to try to change that disheartening reality. In 2010, she successfully ran for State Representative and, after six years working for common-sense legislation in the State House, Patricia was elected the first female Minority Leader in Rhode Island’s history.
As a legislator, Patricia has fought for educational excellence for Rhode Island’s children; for lower taxes for families, young and old; and for reforms to bad policies that hurt our business climate. She has advocated for health insurance reform and legislation that will make it easier for Rhode Island’s doctors to provide world-class quality healthcare to all Rhode Islanders. She has fought on behalf of her constituents for legislation that will lower of high cost of living and bring well-paying jobs with futures to our state.
Believing that every Rhode Islander deserves a brighter future, Patricia hopes to continue to lead this fight as the next Governor of the Ocean State.