Patricia 'Pat' V. Fleming (born March 10, 1949, in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

) is an American politician and a former Democratic member of the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Arizona Senate, Senate. The House convenes in the le ...

for District 25. She lives in

Sierra Vista, Arizona Sierra Vista (; ) is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the population of the city is 45,308, and is the 27th most populous city in Arizona. The city is part of the Sierra ...

. The seat was previously held by a Republican, Jennifer Burns, who did not seek re-election. Fleming was previously a member of the

Arizona Democratic Party The Arizona Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Arizona. Its headquarters are in Phoenix. Along with its main rival, the Arizona Republican Party, it is one of two major parties in the state. The Arizon ...

State Committee and was selected to chair the

Cochise County Cochise County ( ) is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after Cochise, a Chiricahua Apache who was a key war leader during the Apache Wars. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county ...

Democratic Party in 2006. Before her entrance into politics, she worked for the US Army as a budget analyst and a manpower allocations analyst. She retired in August 2005 with over 24 years of service.

Personal life

Fleming was born in

, near her grandparents' farm. Her father was a career Army officer and her mother was an Army civilian. In 1969 she moved with her family to Sierra Vista, and in 1981 she began working with the Army at

Fort Huachuca Fort Huachuca is a United States Army military base, installation, in Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County in southeast Arizona, approximately north of the Mexico–United States border, border with Mexico and at the northern end of the Huac ...

. She has a degree from the

University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the Ac ...

in Business Management. Fleming is married to her husband Bob and has five children and 12 grandchildren.

Politics

Fleming first got involved in local politics in 2000 and has held positions with the Arizona Democratic Party, the Chochise County Democratic Party, and the Santa Cruz County Democratic Party. She was also a member of the 2004

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

Platform Committee. She ran for the Arizona House of Representatives in District 25 in 2006, but was unsuccessful against incumbent Burns, losing by less than 800 votes. On May 12, 2008, Fleming filed enough petition signatures to earn herself a spot on the ballot in November to once again run for the Arizona House, saying in a release that she was running as a "fiscal conservative who knows how to fund vital programs without frivolous spending." She has the endorsements of

Progressive Majority Progressive Majority was an American political action committee that recruited, trained, and campaigned on behalf of progressive politicians for state and local offices. Founded in 2001, the group's stated mission is "to elect progressive champion ...

and 2004 US presidential candidate and retired general

Wesley Clark Wesley Kanne Clark (born Wesley J. Kanne, 23 December 1944) is a retired United States Army officer. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at United States Military Academy, West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the U ...

. Clark himself said that "Fleming will work tirelessly to develop new and innovative plans make Arizonans more secure, while honoring the values that make Arizona the great state that it is. With the goals of improving health care, education, retirement benefits, and fuel costs, Pat Fleming is just the kind of person the people of Arizona deserve to have representing them."

Views

Health care

Fleming believes that all Arizonans deserve easy access to preventative medical care, both physical and mental, and affordable prescription drugs. She supports the expansion of Arizona's KidsCare program, which provides health insurance coverage to over 61,000 Arizona children. She also supports changes to the state-run HealthCare Group program, which provides insurance for many small businesses and the self-employed and wants to remove restrictions making it less available and financially viable for those who need it.

Education

Fleming supports an increase of the funding and resources available to Arizona's public schools, especially its rural schools. She also supports All-Day Kindergarten and higher pay for teachers and has expressed concerns that national testing standards are eroding the quality of education in subject areas such as music and art.

Energy independence

Fleming's energy plan calls for increases in investment in solar power. She supports an extension of investment tax credits for solar power products.

References

External links

Historic page
at the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Patricia 1949 births Democratic Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives Women state legislators in Arizona Candidates in the 2010 United States elections Candidates in the 2012 United States elections 21st-century American women politicians Living people 21st-century members of the Arizona State Legislature