Commissioner Patty Kuderer was elected in 2024 as Washington’s ninth insurance commissioner. As insurance commissioner, Kuderer is committed to protecting consumers, promoting transparency and fairness in the insurance market, and advocating for expanded access to affordable healthcare.
Previously, Kuderer served for almost a decade in the Washington State Legislature. She was appointed to the state House in 2015 and then became the 48th Legislative District’s first female state Senator in 2017. During her time in the Legislature, she championed consumer and worker protections, common sense gun legislation, increasing access to affordable housing and worked to reform Washington’s health care system.
Kuderer also has extensive legal experience as a trial attorney, including serving as a former prosecutor, city attorney and in private practice. She has handled public records, employment discrimination and serious injury cases, as well as argued before Minnesota Appellate and State Supreme Courts.
In 2022, Kuderer was selected as a Henry Toll Fellow through the Council of State Governments in recognition of her leadership as a state Senator. Prior to taking elected office, Kuderer was a long-time volunteer for the Chinook Middle School PTSA including co-president from 2003-2006. She earned the “Golden Acorn” award for her volunteer service in 2006. She has also volunteered with a variety of non-profits over the years including Sacred Heart Social Concerns, Congregations for the Homeless, The Peace Alliance, NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, Virtue’s Children Nepal, Chrysalis Domestic Violence Center and the Minnesota International Health Volunteers.
Kuderer grew up in Minnesota and is one of nine children. She earned a law degree from the William Mitchell College of Law and a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Minnesota. She has lived in King County’s Eastside for over two decades, raising her two (now grown) children.