LaRhonda W. Patrick
Mayor | City of Warner Robins, Georgia
LaRhonda W. Patrick was elected as Mayor of Warner Robins, Georgia during the November 30, 2021 runoff election, where she clinched victory with an unprecedented number of winning votes for any runoff election in the city’s history. Mayor Patrick was sworn in as the first elected female mayor, first African-American mayor and the first minority mayor on Monday, January 3, 2022.
Mayor Patrick is a mother of an active four-year old boy and the wife of a Retired Army Engineer Captain and service-disabled veteran who spent most of his service with the 82nd Airborne. She comes from a long line of military service members including her father, an Air Force Veteran who retired as a Master Sergeant from Robins AFB after twenty-two (22) years of service. He currently serves as a twenty (20) year civilian Facilities Maintenance Flight Chief with the 78th Civil Engineering Group. Mayor Patrick’s younger brother is an active-duty member of the “Air Force Wounded Warrior” (AFW2) program with the 78th Air Base Wing Communications Directorate holding nineteen (19) years of service. She is also the granddaughter of two (2) Vietnam Veterans and niece and cousin of many other service members.
Mayor Patrick earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Pre-Law from Georgia State University, in Atlanta, Georgia, and her Juris Doctor from North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina. Prior to becoming an attorney, LaRhonda worked for both the House of Representatives and the State Senate for the Georgia General Assembly, for boutique law firms and was a Law Clerk for a local State Court Judge. Mayor Patrick is an active member of the State Bar of Georgia and the Supreme Court of Georgia. She’s passionate about helping veterans, children and the elderly; and currently serves on the Board of Directors for two (2) local non-profit organizations.
During her unprecedented campaign, Mayor Patrick embraced a message of transparency, community and legacy with the slogan of “Our City. Our Future.” She pledged to be a true non-partisan candidate who represents all residents regardless of ethnicity, religion, or political affiliation. Her aspiration to seek political office began back in 2005 while serving as a Legislative Intern with the Georgia General Assembly and later as full-time administrative staff with the Georgia State Senate where she realized that the good of people were not always on political agendas.
Mayor Patrick has worked at the city, state and federal levels of government and prior to obtaining the office of mayor, she served as the City Attorney and Solicitor for the neighboring city of Fort Valley, Georgia where she supported Mayor and Council and also briefly represented the Fort Valley Utility Commission. As an attorney, Mayor Patrick’s legal background includes corporate law, government procurement law and municipal law, with an emphasis on commercial contracts, compliance and corporate governance.
Further career experience includes working with federal agency heads in Washington, D.C., fortune 500 executives and negotiation and management of over $250 million dollars in government & commercial contracts across the nation. Mayor Patrick has held leadership roles in several multidisciplined, multimillion-dollar companies worth up to $650 million dollars annually. She has extensive experience guiding a wide range of complex transactions and corporate strategy, advising executive leadership on legal duties and risks, developing internal policies and best practices, as well as drafting, reviewing, and negotiating a variety of global contracts. Mayor Patrick has managed operations, business development and proposal development, securing over $300 million dollars in federal contracts while promoting corporate growth as high as fifty percent (50%).
Mayor Patrick is a huge supporter of Veterans and military service members and has participated in the Houston County Bar Association’s “Wills for Vets” program granting free wills to those who have sacrificed for our country. Top priority in her administration is furthering efforts of a strong relationship with Robins AFB, the fiscal engine of our community and working with local Vietnam Veteran groups to construct the long-delayed Vietnam Veteran Memorial; a memorial in honor of the 1,584 young soldiers from the State of Georgia, killed in action (KIA) during the Vietnam War. As always, we salute our veterans and military service members, as Every Day in Middle Georgia is Armed Forces Appreciation Day (EDIMGIAFAD).