Patrick Penn is a Republican who represented Kansas House District 85 from 2021 to 2025. A U.S. Army veteran raised in foster care, he served multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, retiring as a Captain in 2017 after earning the Meritorious Service Medal and Combat Action Badge. He resigned from the Kansas House in June 2025 to become Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services at the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, appointed by President Donald Trump, where he focuses on reducing fraud in programs like SNAP and managing school meals.

Education and Political Experience

• Education: Earned a bachelor's degree in Criminology from Colorado State University and a master's degree in Applied Information Technology from George Mason University's Volgenau School of Engineering.
• Political Experience: Elected to Kansas House District 85 in 2020 after defeating incumbent Michael Capps in the primary; reelected in 2022 and 2024. Sponsored bipartisan legislation creating the Office of the Child Advocate for foster care protection, supported Wichita aviation, prohibited discriminatory banking practices, advanced welfare reforms to cut waste and fraud, and worked on national security, foreign land bans, and cybersecurity modernization. Described as a Christian conservative who collaborated across the aisle.