Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom won’t seek re-election

Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom says he won’t seek re-election this year because of health and family concerns, leaving Democrats and Republicans salivating over his highly coveted seat.

Tom, a Democrat from Medina, joined with Republicans to wrest control of the Senate and lead the predominantly Republican Majority Coalition at the end of 2012. With the help of another Democrat, Tim Sheldon of Potlach, the coalition currently holds a 26-23 majority in the Senate.

Tom, 50, told colleagues Monday in an e-mail he was dropping his re-election bid because of health issues with both him and his father. He was already facing what was expected to be an expensive and fiercely fought battle with Democrat Joan McBride, the former Kirkland mayor who previously announced she was running against him.

“This past weekend I made the decision not to seek re-election to the state Senate in the 48th Legislative District. After a series of events that have impacted my family and health, the decision not to run is the right one for me and my family,” Tom said.

Washington State Republican Party Chair Susan Hutchison says the party was supporting Tom’s re-election bid, his news came as a surprise, and they would move quickly to help find a strong replacement.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of conversations around the dinner table tonight with people considering a run and we see this as a great opportunity,” she says.

While Tom was elected as a Democrat, Hutchison says polling shows a vast majority of voters in the district supported Tom’s policies and the issues championed by the Republican coalition. Tom was previously a Republican before switching parties, favoring fiscally conservative yet socially liberal issues.

Longtime Democratic strategist Cathy Allen with The Connections Group says Tom had unique support with voters from both parties because of what he was able to accomplish, especially on education. But she predicts the race will now be far more partisan.

“You can’t have that person expect to be able to keep the base he (Tom) had in either party, so what’s happened is they’re going for a much more divided Democrat/Republican split.”

The suburban Eastside 48th district seat is viewed as key to control of the Senate, with Democrats currently holding 23 seats. While the district leaned heavily Democrat in the 2012 presidential and gubernatorial races, Allen says the makeup of the affluent area makes for a tossup at this point.

Below is Tom’s email announcing he would not be running:

I wanted to let you know I will not be running for re-election to the state senate this year. A sequence of events just make this the right decision for me. I’m still working through some health issue related to my kidney stones adventure that I had at the end of session. The final straw was on this past Thursday, my 85 year old father was hit by a car while walking in the grocery store parking lot (in a crosswalk with his cane). It broke his femur, as well as damaging his hip. He’s going to require a lot of physical therapy over the next several months, and I’m his only son that lives in the area. I have always said that health and family are my number one values, and instead of that being merely a campaign slogan, I really do try to live by them.

I wish you all the best of luck in the future, you’re an amazingly talented group of individuals. I hope you stay true to the core principles of the MCC, and leave the social and other divisive issues aside. If you stay focused on what really matters in driving our economy forward, the citizens of this state will be well served.