Larry Jent (born December 20, 1951) is a politician and a former Democratic member of the

Montana Legislature The Montana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to t ...

. He served in the

Montana House of Representatives The Montana House of Representatives is, with the Montana Senate, one of the two houses of the Montana Legislature. Composed of 100 members, the House elects its leadership every two years. Composition of the House In the event that the parti ...

from 2001 to 2007, and served in the

Montana Senate The Montana State Senate is the upper house of the Montana Legislature, the state legislative branch of the U.S. state of Montana. The body is composed of 50 senators elected for four years. Half of the Senate is up for election every two years. ...

from 2007 to 2015.

Early life, education, and early career

Jent was born in 1951 in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. He earned his BS from

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

in 1973 and went on to receive his JD from the

University of Colorado Law School The University of Colorado Law School is one of the professional graduate schools within the University of Colorado System. It is a public law school, with more than 500 students attending and working toward a Juris Doctor or Master of Studies i ...

in 1983. Jent has served in the Montana Army National Guard. He was a Fishing Guide for Bud Lilly's Trout Shop/Ray's Tackle Shop from 1980 to 1983 and then a Sole Practitioner from 1983 to 1987. He has been Partner for Williams and Jent,

Limited Liability Partnership A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit aspects of both partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is n ...

since 1987.

1996 congressional election

In 1996, incumbent Democrat U.S. Congressman Pat Williams of

Montana's at-large congressional district From 1993 to 2023, Montana was represented in the United States House of Representatives by one at-large List of United States congressional districts, congressional district, among the 435 in the United States Congress. The district was the mo ...

decided to retire. Jent was one of four Democrat candidates to run for the seat. Former State Senator Bill Yellowtail won the Democratic primary with 56% of the vote while Jent ranked last with just 10% of the vote.

Montana legislature

Elections

In 2000, Jent was elected to the

to the

Bozeman Bozeman ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The 2020 United States census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it Montana's fourth-largest city. It is the principal city of the Bozeman, Montan ...

-based 29th House District. He defeated Republican Sandra Lee Smiley 66%-33%. In the 2000 U.S. Senate election, Democrat

Brian Schweitzer Brian David Schweitzer (born September 4, 1955) is an American farmer and politician who served as the 23rd Governor of Montana from 2005 to 2013. Schweitzer served for a time as chair of the Western Governors Association as well as the Democr ...

carried the district with 65% of the vote. In 2002, he was re-elected with 69% against Dustin L. Stewart. After redistricting in 2004, Jent ran in the newly redrawn 64th House District and defeated Republican Page Lutes with 56% of the vote. In 2006, he decided to retire from his seat to run for the

. In the Bozeman-based 32nd Senate District, he defeated Republican Art Wittich 56%-44%. In 2010, he won re-election to a second term defeating Republican Michael B. Comstock 54%-46%.

Committee assignments

*Fish and Game *Judiciary *State Administration

2012 gubernatorial election

In April 2011, Jent filed paperwork to run for

Governor of Montana A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

, but dropped out in March 2012, months before the primary.

2016 Attorney General election

Jent ran for

Attorney General of Montana The Montana Department of Justice is a state law enforcement agency of Montana. The Department is equivalent to the State Bureau of Investigation in other states. The Montana Attorney General, currently Republican Austin Knudsen, heads the age ...

. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary and lost in a landslide in the general election with 32% of the vote, to the incumbent Tim Fox's 68%.

References

External links

Montana Senate - Larry Jent
official MT State Legislature website
Project Vote Smart - Senator Larry Jent (MT)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Larry Jent
2006200420022000199419921990
campaign contributions {{DEFAULTSORT:Jent, Larry Democratic Party Montana state senators Democratic Party members of the Montana House of Representatives 1951 births Living people Politicians from Nashville, Tennessee University of Colorado Law School alumni 21st-century members of the Montana Legislature