Patrick Thompson is running as a Democrat for Georgia State Senate District 56 in the Nov. 3 general election.

Thompson faces Republican John Albers in the race, according to BallotReady election data.

Thompson is certified for the ballot.

Candidate information

Party: Democratic

Family: Thompson has been married to his wife, Lorraine, for more than 25 years, and together they have two children, according to his Ballotpedia profile.

Education: Thompson earned a bachelor's degree in biology and psychology from the University of Mary Washington in 1980, according to BallotReady. He earned a master of business administration from Averett University in 1989 and a second master of business administration in sustainability from Green Mountain College in 2016. He also attended management schools at Lotus, IBM and Siebel, according to Ballotpedia.

Experience and public service

Thompson has run for office multiple times. He ran as a Democrat for Georgia State Senate District 21 in 2010, for U.S. House in Georgia's 11th Congressional District in 2012, and for State Senate District 56 in both 2016 and 2022, according to Ballotpedia.

In his professional career, Thompson has served as executive director of the US Solar Coalition since 2022 and as a founding investor and partner at several renewable energy ventures since 2007, according to BallotReady. He serves as chief sales officer at TerraScale, a role he has held since 2021, and as chief sales officer at Darkstar Corporation since 2025. He previously held roles at CloudBank, serving as vice president of global sales and alliances from 2015 to 2017 and as chief sales and alliance officer from 2018 to 2022.

On the issues

Thompson provided responses on several policy topics through BallotReady.

Infrastructure and transportation: Thompson said an intergovernmental effort may be needed, similar to Denver's transit system, "which made every community a beneficiary but required a cooperative investment from all," according to his candidate response.

Healthcare: Thompson said the state needs to expand affordable broadband in rural areas to provide telemedicine services, according to his candidate response.

Education: Thompson said he wants school repair and energy projects turned into training courses for students who may choose trades as a career path. He called for more trades taught in secondary schools rather than offsite for-pay technical schools, including subjects such as 3D printing, agricultural, transit and healthcare, according to his candidate response.

Sources: Public campaign materials, published candidate profiles and the public records linked above. Policy statements are attributed to the candidate; funding or implementation details are included where available.

The Roswell Ledger did not receive a direct questionnaire response from the candidate and does not endorse candidates.