Mitch Rucker is a 6th-generation Kansan from Burdett, Kansas. He grew up working on his family’s farm and cattle ranching operation, on the same land that his great-great-great grandfather Richard "Dick" Rucker homesteaded on after the Civil War. Mitch graduated as part of the first class of the newly-consolidated Hodgeman County High School in 2011, and with funding from a National Merit Scholarship and part-time jobs and internships - which included two years as a TA in the KU Economics Department, a stint in Washington D.C. for Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) and another at the Kansas Chamber of Commerce - Mitch earned a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Economics from the University of Kansas. During and right after college, Mitch worked on the campaigns of now-former U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder and now-Senator Roger Marshall, M.D., along with several state legislative and local campaigns. Mitch also served as Legislative Director for Kansas House Majority Leader Don Hineman, who led the effort to repeal the worst parts of the Brownback tax experiment and restore constitutionally-adequate school funding. He now lives in Lawrence, Kansas, where he has been an advocate for early childhood education and enjoys the occasional Jayhawk basketball game.