- Rodney Tom
Rodney Tom is an American politician, currently representing
Washington 's 48th Legislative District in the state Senate and a member of the Democratic Party.Biography
Tom earned a
Bachelor of Arts degree from theUniversity of Washington in1985 and went on to earn his MBA from theUniversity of Southern California in1988 . A year later he began a career as arealtor , and remains one to this day, presently affiliated withWindermere Real Estate . He resides with his wife Deborah in Medina. The couple have two children. [ [http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=MWA46808 Project Vote Smart - Senator Rodney Tom - Biography ] ]Political career
In
2002 , Tom was elected to the state House of Representatives as a Republican by defeating Democrat Connie Espe by a 52 to 42% margin with 5% going to a third-party candidate.He was reelected in
2004 , edging out Democrat challenger Debi Golden with a 51.76% to 48.24% margin (1816 votes).On
March 14 ,2006 , Tom announced that he was switching to the Democratic Party and challenging Luke Esser [ [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002864809_webpartyswitch14.html The Seattle Times: Politics: Bellevue representative switches parties to run for senate ] ] . This announcement caused no small amount of controversy, as Tom's 2004 Democratic opponent,Debi Golden , had already declared her intention to run for the state Senate in the 48th district, which brought the two together for a rematch of their 2004 race.cite news |url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20060315&slug=tom14m |title=GOP legislator switches to Dems |author=David Postman |work=The Seattle Times |date=2006-03-15 |accessdate=2008-08-22] However, two weeks later, Golden ended her candidacy, citing the expense and futility of a primary battle, leaving Tom unopposed for the Democratic nomination. [ [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/eastsidenews/2002899174_golden30e.html The Seattle Times: Eastside News: Golden reassesses, quits Senate race ] ] He defeated incumbent RepublicanLuke Esser with 53% of the vote [ [http://vote.wa.gov/Elections/general/Results.aspx?o=9dce41d7-ac57-49f9-b059-0d52e1670021 2006 General Election Results ] ] .On
July 17 ,2007 , Tom publicly announced his campaign for the 8th District's congressional seat. [ [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003793099_webtom17m.html?syndication=rss Local News | State Sen. Rodney Tom enters congressional race | Seattle Times Newspaper ] ] He soon ended the campaign and has endorsedDarcy Burner (D), who was the challenger toDave Reichert (R) in 2006 and had a major lead in fundraising.External links
* [http://www.leg.wa.gov/senate/tom/ Legislative homepage]
* [http://www.rodneytom.org Rodney Tom for State Senate]References
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