Patricia Van Pelt Watkins (born November 20, 1957) is an American politician who served in the Illinois Senate, representing the 5th district, from 2013 to 2023.

[1] Prior to her service as a member of the Illinois Senate she was a community activist and ran for Mayor of Chicago.

[2] Inspired by her mother's ability to work, raise her children and go to school,[3] she took a job as a steelworker while taking classes at Truman College.

[5] In 2010, Van Pelt announced that she was going to run for mayor in order to bring ideas to the forefront that had been forgotten about.

During the campaign, she was accused of "being strung out on crack for twenty years," by candidate and former US Senator Carol Moseley Braun, which Watkins credits to her future political success.