John Patterson (Ohio state representative)

Patterson is the son of a chiropractor and a homemaker.^[1] He graduated from Jefferson Area High School in 1974. He attended Marietta College, where he was an assistant coach for the baseball team.

Following graduation, Patterson became a baseball coach at Kent State University and also worked for the Ohio Department of Transportation and as a truck driver. He later would become a teacher, and taught history at Jefferson Area High School for thirty years. Patterson and his wife Nancy reside in Jefferson, Ohio and they have two sons.^[2]

In 2012, Patterson opted to take on Representative Casey Kozlowski, who had won by only forty-two votes in 2010.^[3] Unopposed in the Democratic primary, he went on to defeat Kozlowski with 52.78% of the vote.^[4]