In his first legislative term, Patten succeeded William S. Peck, Jr., of Sicily Island and represented only Catahoula Parish. He was reelected to a second term in 1968 from a revised district which combined Catahoula and neighboring Concordia parishes. The incumbent from Concordia Parish, Fred L. Schiele, did not seek a second term but later served as the sheriff of his parish. Patten's interest focused on rural development. In 1972, in the newly numbered District 21, Patten was unseated by State Senator J.C. "Sonny" Gilbert of Sicily Island, a brother-in-law of William Peck, who ran that year for the House, rather than the Senate. Patten attempted a comeback in the Catahoula-Concordia district in 1975 in the first-ever nonpartisan blanket primary held in Louisiana and had the support of the Catahoula Parish sheriff. Gilbert did not seek reelection to the House. Patten lost in the official general election, 57-43 percent, to Democrat Dan Richey, then of Ferriday in Concordia Parish. Another candidate was the Democrat Troyce Guice, then of Ferriday, who had run unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 1966 and again in 1996. Both Gilbert and Richey switched their affiliation to Republican after their legislative tenure. Patten was a legislative floor leader for GovernorJohn McKeithen. Patten ran unsuccessfully for Louisiana's 5th congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives. In the Democratic primaries of both 1970 and 1972, he was soundly defeated by the incumbent, Otto Passman of Monroe, known as a critic of foreign aid programs. Patten ran again for the Louisiana State Senate in the 1979 primary but failed to secure a general election berth. The winner once again was Dan Richey, who defeated the Democratic National Committeewoman Mary Lou Winters of Columbia, the seat of Caldwell Parish, in the general election. Eliminated in the primary was state RepresentativeNeal Lane "Lanny" Johnson of St. Joseph in Tensas Parish. On October 19, 1991, Patten ran again for the state Senate from District 32. He received 8,684 votes and lost to fellow Democrat Steve D. Thompson, a real estate agent from Winnsboro, who polled 26,840. A third candidate drew the remaining 16.6 percent.
Personal life
Patten was one of ten children born to Ivy Edward Patten and the former Mattie Harrell. He graduated from Block High School in Jonesville and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. During World War II, he was assigned by the United States Army to the first atomic bomb unit. In his business, he held a patent on a suspension bridge system. In 1967, he was named to the Directory of Outstanding Personalities of the South. Patten was divorced from the former Ethel Inez Ewing, a native of Catahoula Parish by whom he had four children, David Mancil Patten and wife, Elaine, of Austin, Texas, Wayne Patten and wife Joyce of Franklinton, Louisiana|Franklinton in Washington Parish in southeastern Louisiana, Diane P. Morace and husband, Wallace, of Ridgecrest in Concordia Parish, and Sandra "Sandy" Cooper and husband, Wayne, of Gordo in Pickens County in western Alabama. Ethel Patten is interred at the Heard Cemetery in Manifest in Concordia Parish. On July 1, 1971, Patten married the former Carolyn McCauley. He was a member of Meyers Bend Pentecostal Church in Jonesville in Catahoula Parish. Services were held at the Sandy Lake Pentecostal Church in Jonesville, where his former wife was still a member at the time of his passing. Patten is interred at Oak Grove Cemetery near Rhinehart, an unincorporated community in Catahoula Parish.
