Patrice M. Arent (born February 3, 1956) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Utah House of Representatives, representing the state's 36th house district through 2020.

Early life and career

Arent was born February 3, 1956, in Utah. She received her B.S. from the University of Utah in 1978 and her J.D. from

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...

in 1981. Before becoming a member of the House of Representatives, she worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Utah Attorney General's Office from 1989-1995. She currently lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and two children. She is Jewish.

Political career

Arent was elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 1996 where she has served as Democratic Whip and Assistant Democratic Whip. In 2002, because of legislative redistricting, she would have had to run against another incumbent Democratic representative to remain in her House seat. Rather than run for a fourth term in the House, Arent successfully ran to represent

District 4 District 4 can refer to: *District 4, Düsseldorf, in Germany *District 4, Grand Bassa County, in Liberia *District 4 (Ho Chi Minh City), in Vietnam *District 4 (New York City Council), in the United States *IV District, Turku, in Finland *Aussersi ...

in the State Senate. She served in the Utah Senate from 2003 through 2006. Arent was elected

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...

woman from Utah at the 2008 State Democratic Convention. She represented Utah as a "

superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote. These Democratic Party superdelegates (who make up slightly under 15 ...

" at the

2008 Democratic National Convention The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for president and vice president. The conventi ...

in Denver, Colorado, and helped nominate Barack Obama as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States. In 2010, she returned to public office as the Representative of District 36 in the Utah House of Representatives. She was reelected in 2012 with 60% of the vote. She was reelected in 2014 with 67.8% of the vote. In 2011, the Utah Democratic Party awarded her the Eleanor Roosevelt Award. The award was presented on October 27, 2011, at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was selected by a committee of past award winners. Past award winners include former Congresswoman

Karen Shepherd Karen Shepherd (born July 5, 1940) is an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995. Early life Shepherd was born in Silver City, New Mexico, where her father, Ralph Felker, worked for the U.S ...

and State Senator

Karen Mayne Karen Mayne is an American politician serving as a member of the Utah Senate from the 5th District. She assumed office on January 2, 2008, succeeding her husband, Ed Mayne. Early life and education Mayne was born in Salt Lake City. She is a gr ...

. During the 2016 legislative session, Arent served on the Executive Appropriations Committee, the Business, Economic Development, and Labor Appropriations Subcommittee, the House Government Operations Committee, and the House Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee.

2016 sponsored legislation

Arent passed five of the eight bills she introduced, giving her a 62.5% passage rate. She did not floor sponsor any bills during the 2016 general session.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arent, Patrice M 1956 births Living people Cornell Law School alumni Democratic Party members of the Utah House of Representatives University of Utah alumni Women state legislators in Utah Lawyers from Salt Lake City American women lawyers American lawyers Women in Utah politics 21st-century American legislators 21st-century American women politicians Jewish American state legislators in Utah 21st-century American Jews 21st-century Utah politicians