Rodney Tom

Rodney Tom
Washington State Senator from the 48th Legislative District
Preceded by	Luke Esser
Succeeded by	Cyrus Habib
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Residence	Medina, Washington

Rodney Tom is an American politician, who represented Washington's 48th Legislative District in the state Senate.

Tom earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington in 1985 and went on to earn his MBA from the University of Southern California in 1988. A year later he began a career as a realtor, and remains one to this day, presently affiliated with Windermere Real Estate. He resides with his wife Deborah in Medina. The couple have two children.

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 Democratic Party 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. 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. However, two weeks later, Golden ended her candidacy, citing the expense and futility of a primary battle, leaving Tom unopposed for the Democratic nomination. He defeated incumbent Republican Luke Esser with 53% of the vote.

On July 17, 2007, Tom publicly announced his campaign for the 8th District's congressional seat. He soon ended the campaign and endorsed Darcy Burner (D), who was the challenger to Dave Reichert (R) in 2006 and had a major lead in fundraising.

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