WashingtonIndependents.org

State Representative Tom Dent

Tom Dent is a Republican state representative representing Washington's 13th Legislative District. They have prime-sponsored 146 bills, of which 33 died without a public hearing.

  • Republican
  • House
  • Legislative District 13
  • 2 sessions on record
email
tom.dent@leg.wa.gov
phone
(360) 786-7932

Source Washington State Legislature web services: member roster, roll calls, sponsorship and committee records · as of 2026-09-16

01

Says vs does

What this member said while seeking the office, set against how they voted once they held it. We state only whether the two records differ — never why.

No stated positions have been collected for this member yet. This comparison needs a quote with a citation — a candidate guide, a town hall transcript, a floor video — found and recorded by a person. There is no feed of things politicians said, so an empty section here means nobody has done that reading, not that the member has never contradicted themselves and not that they have.

Last checked 2026-09-16

02

Voting record

Recorded floor votes across every session we hold. Committee votes are not included — those are recorded per committee, not per member.

7,571

recorded votes

5,468

yea

1,893

nay

210

absent or excused

Recorded floor votes, most recent first
Date Bill Subject Motion This member Roll call
2026-03-12 ESHB 1295 Reading and writing literacy Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 95–0
2026-03-12 HB 1376 Capital gains tax prepayment Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 96–0
2026-03-12 HB 1526 Snack bar liquor licenses Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 87–9
2026-03-12 2SHB 1701 Liquor licensee premises Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 89–7
2026-03-12 ESHB 1795 Student restraint, isolation Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 58–37
2026-03-12 EHB 1941 Agricultural coops/cannabis Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 69–26
2026-03-12 E2SHB 2034 LEOFF 1 restatement Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 50–46
2026-03-12 SHB 2114 Defective license plates Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 96–0
2026-03-12 EHB 2179 Port workers PERS membership Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 96–0
2026-03-12 E2SHB 2215 Fuels/climate commitment act Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 57–38
2026-03-12 SHB 2239 Family burial grounds Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 96–0
2026-03-12 ESSB 6005 Transportation budget, supp. Final Passage as Recommended by the Conference Committee NAY 69–26
2026-03-12 SSB 6003 Capital budget, supplemental Final Passage as Amended by the House YEA 96–0
2026-03-12 ESSB 5998 Operating budget, supp. Final Passage as Recommended by the Conference Committee NAY 54–43
2026-03-12 SSB 6170 Highway construction 3rd Reading & Final Passage YEA 95–0
2026-03-12 ESSB 6231 Data center equipment/taxes 2663 Orcutt Pg 2 Ln 25 YEA 47–50
2026-03-12 ESSB 6231 Data center equipment/taxes 3rd Reading & Final Passage NAY 51–46
2026-03-12 SB 6244 Ag. crop products/tax ex. 3rd Reading & Final Passage YEA 79–18
2026-03-11 E2SHB 1170 AI content notices Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 55–38
2026-03-11 ESHB 1500 CIC resale certificates Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 61–34
2026-03-11 E3SHB 1710 Voting rights act compliance Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 57–39
2026-03-11 E2SHB 1750 Voting rights act claims Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 58–38
2026-03-11 HB 1796 School construction debt Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 95–2
2026-03-11 E2SHB 1903 Low-income energy assistance Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 70–26
2026-03-11 2SHB 1906 Water system rates Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 94–2
2026-03-11 2SHB 1909 Court unification task force Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 57–38
2026-03-11 ESHB 1916 Voter registrations Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 58–38
2026-03-11 E3SHB 1960 Renewable energy Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 86–9
2026-03-11 E2SHB 1974 Land banking authorities Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 59–37
2026-03-11 2SHB 2105 Immigrant workers Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 58–38
2026-03-11 EHB 2156 AGO investigator authority Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 54–33
2026-03-11 EHB 2156 AGO investigator authority Final Passage as Amended by the Senate on Reconsideration NAY 54–41
2026-03-11 EHB 2211 Medically tailored meals Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 95–0
2026-03-11 ESHB 2225 AI companion chatbots Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA against party majority 74–21
2026-03-11 ESHB 2247 Veterinarian relationship Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 95–0
2026-03-11 E2SHB 2251 Climate commit. act accounts Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 54–40
2026-03-11 SHB 2296 Distributed energy resources Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 95–1
2026-03-11 ESHB 2320 Firearm manufacturing Final Passage as Amended by the Senate NAY 58–38
2026-03-11 E2SHB 2325 Tourism assessment Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 91–5
2026-03-11 SHB 2334 Cash transactions/pennies Final Passage as Amended by the Senate YEA 80–15

Showing the 40 most recent of 7,571 recorded votes. Each tally links to the roll call itself, which names every member.

The tally is what the chamber recorded, not a verdict. Final passage needs a majority of the members elected, an amendment a majority of those voting, and some motions two-thirds; which rule governed a given motion is not in the record we hold.

Votes against their own party’s majority

1,638

of 7,571 recorded votes went against the majority of Republican colleagues

Counted only where their party had a clear majority on that roll call. A tied party is not a position to diverge from.

Votes against the member’s own party majority
Date Bill Motion They voted Their party
2026-03-11 ESHB 2225 Final Passage as Amended by the Senate Yea Nay (16-20 yea-nay)
2026-03-11 ESSB 6354 Final Passage as Amended by the House Nay Yea (29-7 yea-nay)
2026-03-09 2SHB 1128 Final Passage as Amended by the Senate Yea Nay (11-27 yea-nay)
2026-03-09 ESHB 2219 Final Passage as Amended by the Senate Yea Nay (10-28 yea-nay)
2026-03-06 ESB 5068 Final Passage as Amended by the House Yea Nay (4-33 yea-nay)
2026-03-06 SSB 5520 Final Passage as Amended by the House Yea Nay (18-19 yea-nay)
2026-03-06 E2SSB 5847 Final Passage as Amended by the House Yea Nay (10-27 yea-nay)
2026-03-06 E2SSB 5981 Final Passage as Amended by the House Yea Nay (11-28 yea-nay)
2026-03-05 E2SSB 6026 Final Passage as Amended by the House Yea Nay (15-23 yea-nay)
2026-03-05 SJM 8002 3rd Reading & Final Passage Yea Nay (6-32 yea-nay)
2026-03-04 SSB 5346 Final Passage as Amended by the House Yea Nay (7-32 yea-nay)
2026-03-04 ESSB 5837 3rd Reading & Final Passage Yea Nay (16-23 yea-nay)
2026-03-04 SB 5957 3rd Reading & Final Passage Yea Nay (14-25 yea-nay)
2026-03-04 SB 5988 3rd Reading & Final Passage Yea Nay (5-33 yea-nay)
2026-03-03 ESB 6106 3rd Reading & Final Passage Nay Yea (19-18 yea-nay)
2026-02-17 ESHB 2225 3rd Reading & Final Passage Yea Nay (13-26 yea-nay)
2026-02-17 E2SHB 2416 3rd Reading & Final Passage Yea Nay (11-28 yea-nay)
2026-02-17 2SHB 2590 3rd Reading & Final Passage Yea Nay (9-30 yea-nay)
2026-02-16 2SHB 2384 3rd Reading & Final Passage Nay Yea (22-14 yea-nay)
2026-01-22 HB 1069 3rd Reading & Final Passage Yea Nay (18-19 yea-nay)
2026-01-15 SHB 1302 3rd Reading & Final Passage Yea Nay (18-21 yea-nay)
2026-01-15 HB 1796 3rd Reading & Final Passage Nay Yea (20-19 yea-nay)
2025-04-26 SHB 1498 Final Passage as Amended by the Senate Yea Nay (19-20 yea-nay)
2025-04-24 2SSB 5802 Final Passage as Amended by the House Yea Nay (7-32 yea-nay)
2025-04-22 2SHB 1514 Final Passage as Amended by the Senate Yea Nay (15-24 yea-nay)

Showing the 25 most recent of 1638. The full list is in the roll call records linked below.

Source WA Legislature roll-call archive · as of 2026-09-16 · rows 7,571 votes across every session held · key committee votes are not in the archive and are not counted here

03

Bills sponsored — and where they stopped

Bills where this member was the prime sponsor. Co-sponsorship is not included; the record we hold names only the prime sponsor.

146

bills prime-sponsored

29

became law

33

died without a public hearing

Introduced, referred, and the session ended without testimony taken. Ordinary rather than exceptional — 44% of all bills that die in Washington die this way.

Bills prime-sponsored by this member
Session Bill Subject Outcome Heard
2025-26 HB 1037 PFD formation pending yes
2025-26 HB 1047 Fire district equip. taxes pending yes
2025-26 HB 1048 Rangeland fire pilot pending yes
2025-26 HB 1083 Aircraft fuel tax distrib. pending no
2025-26 HB 1084 Unleaded aircraft fuel/tax pending no
2025-26 SHB 1294 Pesticide application comm. became law yes
2025-26 ESHB 1522 Utility wildfire mitigation became law yes
2025-26 HB 1597 Agricultural overtime pending no
2025-26 E2SHB 1648 Child care qualifications became law yes
2025-26 HB 1649 Child care/community pathway pending no
2025-26 SHB 1650 Airport projects/local REET became law yes
2025-26 HB 1691 Yakima basin water plan pending no
2025-26 EHB 1705 Large animal veterinarians became law yes
2025-26 HB 1707 Noxious weeds list/crops pending yes
2025-26 HB 1911 Pollinator license plates pending yes
2025-26 E2SHB 1912 Agricultural fuel/CCA ex. became law yes
2025-26 HB 1930 Fish and wildlife commission pending yes
2025-26 HB 2104 Aviation assurance funding became law yes
2025-26 HB 2109 Vehicle loads pending yes
2025-26 HB 2322 Alternative jet fuel pending yes
2025-26 HB 2327 County forest board lands pending yes
2025-26 HB 2347 Luxury aircraft tax pending yes
2025-26 HB 2348 Timber sale process became law yes
2025-26 HB 2357 Civil air patrol pending yes
2025-26 HB 2511 Imminent physical harm/child pending yes
2025-26 HB 2529 DCYF accountability board pending yes
2025-26 HB 2584 Farm machinery sales tax pending yes
2025-26 HB 2619 Agriculture regulations pending yes
2025-26 HB 2620 Forest practices rule-making pending yes
2025-26 HB 2642 Lubricant emissions pending no
2025-26 HJM 4002 Medal of Honor Bridge pending yes
2025-26 HR 4645 Harry R. Anderson pending no
2023-24 ESHB 1019 Pesticide advisory board became law yes
2023-24 2SHB 1032 Wildfires/electric utilities became law yes
2023-24 HB 1040 Aviation & aerospace cmte. died yes
2023-24 HB 1242 Behavioral health work group died yes
2023-24 HB 1243 Muni. airport commissions became law yes
2023-24 HB 1395 Aircraft fuel tax distrib. died yes
2023-24 HB 1494 Irrigation & rehab districts died yes
2023-24 HB 1531 Aerospace industry dev. died yes
2023-24 HB 1590 Oversight board for DCYF died yes
2023-24 HB 1739 Child care prov. instruction died yes
2023-24 HB 1754 DCYF child welfare eval. died no
2023-24 HB 1971 Rangeland fire pilot died yes
2023-24 HB 2046 Child care alternative reqs. died yes
2023-24 HB 2047 Cannabis use/SUD employees died no
2023-24 SHB 2147 Agriculture pests & diseases became law yes
2023-24 HB 2185 DCYF oversight board died yes
2023-24 HB 2187 Water/family farms died yes
2023-24 HB 2292 Hatchery improvement died no
2023-24 HB 2300 Child care qualifications died no
2023-24 HB 2302 Pesticide application comm. died yes
2023-24 HB 2393 Unleaded aircraft fuel/tax died yes
2023-24 HB 2402 Fire srv. training account died no
2023-24 HB 2438 Dashboard camera recordings died no
2023-24 HB 2488 Gub. proclamations/religion died no
2023-24 HR 4687 Around the world flight died no
2021-22 HB 1030 Aviation revital. loan prg died yes
2021-22 HB 1060 Emergency proclamations died no
2021-22 HB 1112 Use tax exemptions died yes
2021-22 HB 1198 Aviation coordinating comm'n died yes
2021-22 HB 1278 Child care reqs/suspension died yes
2021-22 HB 1290 Aircraft fuel tax distrib. died no
2021-22 SHB 1355 Noxious weeds became law yes
2021-22 HB 1434 Ag. mental health hotline died no
2021-22 HB 1470 Unmanned aircraft/tax prefs. died no
2021-22 HB 1538 Aviation & aerospace cmte. died yes
2021-22 HB 1712 Muni. airport commissions died yes
2021-22 HB 1891 Rangeland fire pilot died yes
2021-22 HB 1909 Meat and poultry misbranding died yes
2021-22 HB 1936 DCYF oversight board members died yes
2021-22 HB 1945 DCYF-caregiver communication died yes
2021-22 HB 1993 Pesticide advisory board died yes
2021-22 HB 2053 Behavioral health work group died no
2019-20 EHB 1187 Fish habitat projects became law yes
2019-20 HB 1188 Rangeland fire associations died yes
2019-20 HB 1283 Agricultural fair funding died no
2019-20 HB 1392 Cost of child care regs died yes
2019-20 HB 1455 Aeronautics industry died yes
2019-20 HB 1456 Aviation revital. loan prg died yes
2019-20 HB 1457 Aircraft fuel tax distrib. died yes
2019-20 HB 1561 DCYF oversight board became law yes
2019-20 SHB 1605 Foster care TBI screenings became law yes
2019-20 HB 1662 Payments in lieu of prop tax died yes
2019-20 HB 1725 Pesticide application safety died yes
2019-20 HB 1773 Fire district equip./taxes died no
2019-20 HB 1816 Medical transp. aircraft/tax died yes
2019-20 HB 1866 Day care prof dev compliance died yes
2019-20 HB 1867 Day care prof dev changes died no
2019-20 EHB 1894 Wildland fire advisory comm. died yes
2019-20 HB 1895 Youth gang reduction pilot died no
2019-20 HB 1944 Use tax exemptions died yes
2019-20 HB 2055 Elk management pilot project died no
2019-20 HB 2422 Civil immigration enf. died no
2019-20 SHB 2556 Early learning provider regs became law yes
2019-20 HB 2696 Meat and poultry misbranding died yes
2019-20 HB 2697 Noxious weeds died yes
2019-20 HB 2790 License compliance agree. died yes
2019-20 HB 2880 Aircraft fuel tax/research died yes
2019-20 HR 4632 Kittitas boys' basketball died no
2019-20 HR 4653 Agricultural producers died no
2017-18 HB 1018 Airport grants/max. amount became law yes
2017-18 HB 1019 Fire services mobilization died yes
2017-18 SHB 1353 Elk management pilot project became law yes
2017-18 HB 1399 Wild deer & elk prop. damage died yes
2017-18 HB 1400 Aviation license plate became law yes
2017-18 HB 1473 Eye care died yes
2017-18 HB 1578 Irrigation district auth. died yes
2017-18 HB 1613 Budget stabil/2015 wildfires died yes
2017-18 EHB 1656 Aviation revital. loan prg died yes
2017-18 E2SHB 1819 Children's mental health became law yes
2017-18 HB 1839 Fire district equip. taxes died yes
2017-18 EHB 1924 Small forest landowners became law yes
2017-18 HB 1957 DEL licensing appeal boards died yes
2017-18 HB 2013 Child care lic. mediation died yes
2017-18 HB 2069 DEL rule-making suspension died yes
2017-18 EHB 2073 Beef commission became law yes
2017-18 HB 2247 Dangerous dogs died no
2017-18 HB 2555 Wanapum Indians/fish permits died yes
2017-18 SHB 2561 Wildland fire adv. committee became law yes
2017-18 HB 2562 Rangeland fire associations died yes
2017-18 HB 2754 Aircraft fuel tax distrib. died yes
2017-18 HB 2785 Foster parent rights & resp. became law yes
2017-18 HB 2838 Industrial wastewater facils died yes
2017-18 HB 2845 Marijuana odor task force died yes
2017-18 HB 2954 Child care providers died no
2017-18 HB 3009 Aviation scholarship program died no
2017-18 EHJM 4012 Harbor maintenance tx reform died yes
2017-18 HJM 4013 TRACON facilities died no
2017-18 HR 4615 Buffalo Soldiers died no
2015-16 HB 1526 Aircraft tax rev/airport aid died yes
2015-16 SHB 1527 Pesticide licensees became law yes
2015-16 HB 1544 Water services procurement died no
2015-16 HB 1708 Irrigation distr. facilities died yes
2015-16 HB 1888 Chemical dependency treatmnt died yes
2015-16 HB 1889 Permit exempt wells & GMHBs died no
2015-16 EHB 1989 Water storage asset mgmt became law yes
2015-16 HB 2046 Streams, definition in SMA died yes
2015-16 SHB 2413 Aircraft registration became law yes
2015-16 HB 2571 Farm property/auctioneers died no
2015-16 HB 2572 Agricultural aircraft parts died no
2015-16 HB 2751 Pesticide exposure died no
2015-16 HB 2924 Wildland firefighters/GPS died yes
2015-16 ESHB 2925 Wildland fires/livestock became law yes
2015-16 HJM 4005 Ports/ag, food, timber died no
2015-16 HR 4659 Katherine Merck/Miss. Rodeo died no

Source WA Legislature bill status + committee agendas · as of 2026-09-16 · n 146 prime-sponsored bills across every session held · What died in committee

04

Committee seats

2025-26

  • House Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources
  • House Committee on Early Learning & Human Services
  • House Committee on Transportation

We cannot say which of these they chair. A committee chair decides what gets a hearing, which makes the role the single most consequential fact in this section — and the roster export records membership without it. Every seat above is shown as an equal membership because that is all the record supports.

Last checked 2026-09-16

Source WA Legislature committee membership records · as of 2026-09-16 · seats 3

05

Who funds this seat

Campaign finance reported to the Public Disclosure Commission. The record and the PDC share no identifier, so this is a join — on surname, given name, chamber and district for a legislator, and on the office won and the county it was won in for everyone else. Only where one person fits.

$80,540

raised, 2026 cycle

$10,784

spent

$497

average contribution

Total divided by 162 reported contributors.

$301K

raised across 3 campaigns

Every cycle we hold for this filer, not a career total — earlier campaigns may predate our coverage.

By campaign

Reported campaign finance by cycle
Cycle Raised Spent Contributors
2026 $80,540 $10,784 162
2024 $127,294 $126,794 130
2018 $93,410 $72,335 269

Largest reported contributors

Largest reported contributors
Contributor City Amount
Association of Wash Aerial Applicators Ellensburg $2,400
PUGET SOUND ENERGY BELLEVUE $2,400
Snoqualmie Tribe Snoqualmie $2,400
WA STATE TREE FRUIT ASSOCIATION PAC OLYMPIA $2,400
WASHINGTON AFFORDABLE HOUSING COUNCIL TUMWATER $2,400
WASHINGTON ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS PAC OLYMPIA $2,400
WASHINGTON HOSPITALITY ASSOCIATION PAC OLYMPIA $2,400
SABEY CORPORATION WELLPINIT $2,000
MPC Investment Fund Inc San Antonio $1,500
AGRI BEEF MANAGEMENT BOISE $1,200
Aristotle International Inc Washington $1,200
AVISTA CORP SPOKANE $1,200

Individual contributors, by stated employer

Private individuals are not named here unless their own public conduct already makes them a public figure; their giving appears aggregated by the employer they stated. The full itemised record is public at the PDC.

Individual contributors, grouped by stated employer
Employer stated by contributors Contributors Amount
Bumble Inc 1 $2,400
No employer stated 2 $4,800

This filing was matched, not looked up. The Legislature and the PDC share no identifier. We matched Tom Dent to PDC filer DENTT 837 because the surname, the given name, the office (State Representative) and the district (13) all agree, and because only one person fits. If that is the wrong person, tell us at corrections@washingtonindependents.org and we will unpublish this section while we check — see Corrections.

Last checked 2026-09-16

Spent independently, for and against · not their money

Money spent about this member by committees that are barred by law from coordinating with them. It is not their money, they cannot return it, and it is not in the total above. Spending for someone is not money from them, and the two sides are never subtracted from each other.

No independent expenditure in the PDC record names this member. The filings carry the candidate id this page is already matched to, so this is a search that ran and found nothing — not a join we have not built. It is not a finding that none was ever made: a C-6 is filed within days of the spending, and the record is re-read on a schedule.

Last checked 2026-09-16

Sources WA PDC C-3 contribution reports · C-6 independent expenditure and electioneering communication reports · as of 2026-09-16 · filer DENTT 837 · key surname + given name + chamber + district — refused where more than one person fits · note independent expenditures are joined on the PDC candidate id, not on a name; they are a separate ledger, never netted against each other and never added to the committee’s own total

The original filing at the PDC

06

How the seat was won

Every certified general election this member won, from the Secretary of State canvass. The canvass names winners by printed name and the Legislature issues member ids, so each row is a stated join of the two records — never a guess.

Certified election wins for State Representative Tom Dent
Election Seat Contest Record
November 4, 2014 State House seat 1, Legislative District 13 contested WA Secretary of State certified general election results, 2014
November 8, 2016 State House seat 1, Legislative District 13 unopposed WA Secretary of State certified general election results, 2016
November 6, 2018 State House seat 1, Legislative District 13 contested WA Secretary of State certified general election results, 2018
November 3, 2020 State House seat 1, Legislative District 13 contested WA Secretary of State certified general election results, 2020
November 8, 2022 State House seat 1, Legislative District 13 unopposed WA Secretary of State certified general election results, 2022
November 5, 2024 State House seat 1, Legislative District 13 unopposed WA Secretary of State certified general election results, 2024

Sources Secretary of State certified results + PDC candidate filings · as of 2026-09-16 · key joined on surname + given name + chamber + district; refused where more than one member fits · note — = value absent from source export

07

Member response

This page is built from public records, and the member it describes gets space to respond to it.

No response process exists yet. When one does, anything this member sends about this page will be published here verbatim — dated, unedited, and clearly theirs. Nothing has been solicited yet, so the absence of a response here says nothing about the member.

Last checked 2026-09-16

08 · component 08

Connected records

Everything below is a link some document draws for us. Nothing here is our inference. Grouped by how well the record supports it, always in this order, never sorted by interest.

On the record · 35

One document states the relation in its own words.

Showing 8 of 35. Every edge for this record, as JSON

Joined by us, on a stated key · 6

Two documents joined on a key, and the key is named on every row.

Nothing on file

Votes are in the graph but render as vote-history tables above, not as rows here. Testimony and committee referrals are not in the graph yet — no sign-in sheet or chamber journal has been read into an edge for this member, which is not the same as none existing.

Checked 2026-09-16

Source one query on the edge table, grouped by tier · as of 2026-09-16 · edges 35 filed, 6 composite, 0 adjacency · how edges are built

09 · component 09

How to run for this office

This is an office, not a possession. Every seat here is filled by whoever files for it and wins, and the requirements are the same for everyone.

Filing requirements and next election by seat
Seat Term Next election Filing opens
State Representative, District 13 2 years 2026 May 2026

1 form

declaration of candidacy

Filed with the Secretary of State, online or on paper. It states your name as it will appear on the ballot, the office, and that you are qualified.

1 week

the filing window, every May

Monday to Friday, closing at 4:00pm. There is no late filing: miss it and the seat is decided without you.

0

signatures, endorsements, prior offices

You must be a registered voter living in the district on the day you file. That is the entire qualification, and no party is asked about you.

C-1

only once money moves

A campaign committee and PDC reporting are required within two weeks of raising or spending anything. Raise nothing and you file nothing.

What the job is. The Legislature sits for 105 days in odd-numbered years and 60 days in even ones, and the work does not stop when the session does — committee days, constituent casework and district meetings run through the interim. Someone deciding whether to file needs that more than they need anyone’s opinion of the incumbent.

Reporting follows money, not candidacy. Registering with the Public Disclosure Commission and filing contribution reports is triggered by raising and spending, not by putting your name in. A campaign that stays under the mini-reporting threshold files a short form and nothing more.

We cannot yet tell you what filing costs. The fee is one percent of the office’s annual salary (RCW 29A.24.091 — one percent of the annual salary of the office), which makes it a specific dollar amount rather than a rule — and a page that makes you compute your own filing fee has not told you the filing fee. Legislative salaries are set by the Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials and we do not hold that schedule, so the figure is missing rather than estimated. A candidate who cannot pay it may file a petition of signatures instead.

This section appears on every office page on this site, contested or not, filled or vacant. Its presence is not a comment on whoever holds the seat, and we do not say whether a seat is winnable — that would be a prediction, and this page carries records.

Source Election cycle derived from past regular elections in PDC candidate filings; requirements from RCW 29A.24 — candidate filing · as of 2026-09-16

10

What this page will not compute

Each of these is a number a reader might reasonably expect. None of them follow from the records we hold, so we do not publish them.

What the money bought
Where a filing is matched we show what was raised and from whom. Connecting that to how the member voted would be a causal claim from two records that were never linked, and campaign money is not the only thing that moves a vote.
A complete funding career
Cycles are shown back to 2009. A member who served before that has earlier campaigns we do not hold, so the career total is a floor rather than a lifetime figure.
Employers we cannot see
The employer field is filled in by the donor and left blank more often than not, so the bundling table shows employers we can see rather than every one that exists.
Whether a difference was a broken promise
Where a stated position and a vote differ we show both records and say only that they differ. Why is not in either one — an amendment, a procedural vote, or a bill that changed under the member all produce the same pair.
A complete set of statements
Positions are found and cited one at a time by a person. An empty or short list means nobody has done that reading, not that a member has said little.
Advertising
Meta’s ad library and PDC independent expenditures targeting this member are both public and neither is loaded.
What a divergent vote means
We can say a member voted against their party’s majority on a given roll call. Whether that was principle, a local interest, a drafting objection or a trade is not in the record, and the count is not a measure of independence.
Committee influence
Chair and ranking-member roles decide which bills get heard. The roster gives membership without role, so every seat here looks alike.
A member’s response
The design reserves space for one. We have no process yet for soliciting or publishing it, so the section is absent rather than empty.

11

Common questions

Which Legislative District does Tom Dent represent?
Tom Dent is a Republican state representative representing Washington’s 13th Legislative District.
How often does Tom Dent break with their party?
Across 7,571 recorded floor votes we hold, Tom Dent voted against the majority of their own party 1,638 times. That count is a description of the record, not a measure of independence — the record does not say why any single vote diverged.
How many bills has Tom Dent sponsored?
Tom Dent has prime-sponsored 146 bills, of which 29 became law. Co-sponsorship is not in the record we hold. 33 of them died without ever getting a public hearing.
How long has Tom Dent served in the Legislature?
Tom Dent appears in the member roster for 2 biennia, most recently 2025-26. This counts biennia on record, not continuous years.
How many state legislators represent each Washington district?
Three — one state senator and two state representatives, elected to Position 1 and Position 2. All three represent the same geography; the positions are not sub-areas.
When are Washington legislative elections held?
In even-numbered years. All 98 House seats are up every two years; Senate seats run on staggered four-year terms.

Answers are generated from the same fields as the sections above and emitted as FAQPage structured data, so a machine reader gets the identical text a person sees.

Cite this page

This is public-records reporting. Use it, and say where it came from.

“State Representative Tom Dent,” WashingtonIndependents.org, data as of 2026-09-16, accessed 2026-09-19. https://washingtonindependents.org/official/tom-dent/

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Where this page comes from

Every figure above is read from a primary source and rebuilt on a schedule. Nothing here is modelled or inferred; where a source is silent the page says so rather than filling the gap.

WA Legislature member roster
Name, party, district, chamber and contact details, per session served.
WA Legislature roll call service
Every recorded floor vote. Committee votes are recorded per committee rather than per member and are not included.
Party divergence
Derived, not published by the Legislature. For each roll call we take the majority position of the member’s own party and flag votes against it, counting only roll calls where that party had a clear majority.
WA Legislature legislation records
Prime sponsorship, and each bill’s outcome and hearing status. Co-sponsorship is not in the record we hold.
Public Disclosure Commission candidate filings
Contributions, expenditures, the largest reported contributors and their stated employers, for every cycle back to 2007. Matched on surname and given name plus chamber and district for a legislator, or the office won and the county it was won in for everyone else — never on name alone — and only published where one person fits. Across the record that resolves 1,938 of 13,879 officials over 3,548 cycles, with 45 refused as ambiguous; the rest say why they did not match.
Not loaded
Public statements, advertising, committee roles, and committee votes by member.