Maria Ruud (born 1961) is a

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

politician and a former member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Minnesota Legislature, Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the Min ...

who represented District 42A, which includes portions of western

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneap ...

in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

metropolitan area. A Democrat, Ruud was first elected in 2004 when she narrowly defeated incumbent Rep. Peter H. Adolphson. She was re-elected in 2006 and 2008, but was unseated by just 107 votes by Republican

Kirk Stensrud Kirk D. Stensrud (born March 1962) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives who represented District 48A, which included portions of western Hennepin County in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. A ...

in the 2010 general election. Ruud served as vice chair of the Energy Finance and Policy Division Committee, and was a member of the Education Finance and Economic Competitiveness Finance Division, the Health and Human Services, the Health Care and Human Services Finance Division, and the Mental Health Division committees. Ruud is an

Obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surg ...

Gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined ar ...

Nurse Practitioner A nurse practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice registered nurse and a type of mid-level practitioner. NPs are trained to assess patient needs, order and interpret diagnostic and laboratory tests, diagnose disease, formulate and prescribe ...

at Park Nicollet Health Services in

Brooklyn Center Brooklyn Center is a first-ring suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. In 1911, the area became a village formed from parts of Brooklyn Township and Crystal Lake Township. I ...

. She graduated from

Bloomington Jefferson High School Thomas Jefferson High School is one of the two high schools in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States Independent School District No. 271. It is located at 102nd Street and France Avenue on the suburb's southwest side. About 1,600 students atten ...

in Bloomington, then went on to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, receiving her

B.S.N. The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN, BScN) also known in some countries as a Bachelor of Nursing (BN) or Bachelor of Science (BS) with a Major in Nursing is an academic degree in the science and principles of nursing, granted by an accredited ...

She later earned her M.S.N. at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It co ...

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1961 births Living people University of Minnesota School of Nursing alumni People from Minnetonka, Minnesota Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Women state legislators in Minnesota 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians University of California, San Francisco alumni {{Minnesota-politician-stub