The New York State Senate

Patty Ritchie was elected to the State Senate in 2010, and serves in several key leadership and committee roles for the Senate Minority Conference, including the Chair of the Senate Minority Conference and the ranking member of the Senate’s Energy and Telecommunications, Local Government and Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committees. 

Patty lived on a family farm in DePeyster, in rural St. Lawrence County, graduated from Heuvelton Central High, Mater Dei College and SUNY Potsdam. Prior to joining the Senate, she served for more than a decade as St. Lawrence County Clerk, where she earned a reputation as a problem-solver and innovative thinker who stands up for taxpayers and people she represents.

In the Senate, she has authored over 60 new laws that seek to create better opportunity and improve the quality of life for her constituents and citizens of our state, voted to cut taxes to their lowest rates in generations and supported a property tax cap that’s saving homeowners millions of dollars each year. She delivered record aid to local schools, to help ensure a quality education for every student and, as a grandmother, has made a priority of issues affecting health care, children and families.

Senator Ritchie recognizes the vital role of agriculture in strengthening and growing the economy of rural Upstate communities and, as the past Chair of the Agriculture Committee, she reversed budget cuts and secured record funding to programs that help strengthen the bottom lines of hardworking farmers. Her “Young Farmers” and “Grown in New York” initiatives are providing millions of dollars to promote innovation and preserve the future of family farming for generations.

As the representative of Fort Drum, the Northeast’s largest military installation and Upstate New York’s biggest employer, she has championed the cause of service men and women and veterans, and their families, and led community and statewide opposition to federal budget cuts to the post and our strong national defense.

She has also been active in cultivating stronger ties with the government and people of Canada, including those in communities along the longest portion of shared boundary between New York State and the boundaries of the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, in the 48th Senate District, to promote better economic opportunity and friendship.