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Charlie Dent | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2014 | |
| Chair of theHouse Ethics Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Mike Conaway |
| Succeeded by | Susan Brooks |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's15th district | |
| In office January 3, 2005 – May 12, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Pat Toomey |
| Succeeded by | Susan Wild |
| Member of thePennsylvania Senate from the16th district | |
| In office January 5, 1999 – November 30, 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Roy Afflerbach |
| Succeeded by | Pat Browne |
| Member of thePennsylvania House of Representatives from the132nd district | |
| In office January 1, 1991 – November 25, 1998 | |
| Preceded by | John Pressman |
| Succeeded by | Jennifer Mann |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Charles Wieder Dent (1960-05-24)May 24, 1960 (age 65) Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Pamela Serfass |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Pennsylvania State University (BA) Lehigh University (MPA) |
Charles Wieder Dent[1] (born May 24, 1960) is an American politician who served as aRepublican member of theUnited States House of Representatives forPennsylvania's 15th congressional district from 2005 to 2018.
Born inAllentown, Pennsylvania, Dent worked in a variety of occupations after graduating fromPennsylvania State University. He earned a master's degree in public administration fromLehigh University and served as an aide to CongressmanDonald L. Ritter. From 1991 to 2004, he served in thePennsylvania General Assembly. In 2004, Dent won election to the United States House of Representatives, succeedingPat Toomey.
In the House, Dent became a member of the centristRepublican Main Street Partnership and theTuesday Group. He became co-chair of the Tuesday Group in 2007. He served on theHouse Committee on Appropriations, and previously chaired theHouse Ethics Committee.
In September 2017, Dent announced that he would retire from Congress and not seek re-election to another term in2018.[2] In April 2018, Dent announced that he would retire in May 2018, not serving out the remainder of his term.[3][4] He resigned on May 12, 2018, leaving the seat vacant.[5]
Dent was born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the son of Marjorie L. (née Wieder) and Walter R. Dent. He is of German, English, and Irish descent.[6] Dent is a 1978 graduate of Allentown'sWilliam Allen High School. He received a bachelor's in international politics fromPennsylvania State University in 1982, and a masters in public administration fromLehigh University in 1993.[7] He is a member ofPhi Kappa Psi.[citation needed]
Prior to pursuing elected office, Dent worked as a development officer at Lehigh University, an industrial electronics salesman, a hotel clerk, and an aide to U.S. RepresentativeDonald L. Ritter.[7]
Before being elected to theUnited States Congress, Dent was a member of theState Legislature for 14 years. He representedPennsylvania's 132ndhouse district from 1991 to 1999 after unseating Democratic incumbentJack Pressman in a heavily Democratic district in 1990.
In 1998, Dent won an open16th District Senate seat[8] when DemocratRoy Afflerbach, who later served as Mayor of Allentown from 2002 to 2006, retired to take up an ultimately unsuccessful bid for Congress.[9]
Dent was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2004, succeeding Pat Toomey, who gave up his seat to challengeArlen Specter for theU.S. Senate. He defeated Democrat Joe Driscoll 59%–39%.
He won re-election 54%–44% against Charles Dertinger.
He won re-election 59%–41% against Allentown Democratic Party Chairman Sam Bennett.
Dent won re-election againstBethlehem MayorJohn Callahan with 54% of the vote,[10] the smallest percent of the vote he received in any of his election campaigns.[11]
Dent defeated Democrat Rick Daugherty, the Chairman of the Lehigh County Democratic Party, 57%–43%.[12]
Dent won re-election unopposed.
Dent defeated Daugherty in a rematch, 58%–38%.
Dent is amoderate Republican.[13] The non-partisanNational Journal gave Dent a composite ideological rating of 62% conservative and 38% liberal in 2013.[14] TheNational Journal considered Dent to be one of the three most moderate Republicans in that year.[15]GovTrack placed Dent near the ideological center of the House of Representatives; the liberalAmerican Civil Liberties Union gave him a rating of 35% and the fiscally conservativeUnited States Chamber of Commerce gave him a 95% rating.[16] Dent was ranked as the 47th-most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the114th United States Congress (and the fourth most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania) in the Bipartisan Index created byThe Lugar Center and theMcCourt School of Public Policy that ranks members of the United States Congress by their degree of bipartisanship (by measuring the frequency each member's bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party and each member's co-sponsorship of bills by members of the opposite party).[17]
In 2014, Dent introduced a bill to give states more flexibility in how they provide health insurance to children from families between 100 and 133 percent of thefederal poverty level, according toThe Ripon Advance.[18]
TheNext Generation Choices Foundation selected Dent to be theElsie Hillman Speaker at their annual National Cancer Prevention Day event in 2016 in recognition of his efforts to support legislation related to cancer prevention.[19]
Before retiring, Dent voted in line with PresidentDonald Trump's position on legislation 93% of the time.[20] After announcing his retirement during late 2017, he said that dealing with the "freewheeling president" became "exhausting". According toThe Hill, he said "disorder, chaos, instability, uncertainty, intemperate statements" were not "conservative virtues".[21] He delivered a farewell speech on May 10,[22] and resigned on May 12, 2018, leaving the seat vacant.[5]
In April 2011, after admitting that it was highly controversial, Dent voted along with the other Republican members of the House for a budget bill that would have abolished government-run Medicare. It proposed to make senior citizens purchase individual private health insurance using vouchers that would have covered only a part of their costs. TheCongressional Budget Office found that privatizing Medicare under this plan would significantly increase the out-of-pocket costs to seniors; by 2030, the out-of-pocket share for standard medical expenses paid by a typical 65-year-old would have risen to 68% under the Republican plan, as opposed to 25% under the then existing Medicare system. The CBO found that the Republican bill would also have increased the budget deficit for at least a decade.[23][24][25]
Dent voted against the 2007 Re-authorization of theChildren's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).[26] Dent consistently opposed theAffordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.[27] However he broke with his party and voted against one of the Republican attempts to repeal Obamacare in 2017.[28]
As a Republican who represented a district with Democratic leanings, he occasionally crossed party lines on legislation. On the issue of abortion and reproductive health care, Dent is apro-choice Republican.[29] In 2018,Planned Parenthood, which supports legal access to abortion and birth control, gave Dent a 41% lifetime score for voting with their positions and theanti-abortionNational Right to Life Committee, which opposes legal abortion, gave him a 50% rating in the same year.[14] He co-sponsored legislation to fund embryonic stem-cell research and was one of the Republicans who broke with their party to support the use of embryos in research.[30] Dent supported same-sex marriage.[31] He cosponsored theEmployment Non-Discrimination Act which would have banned employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and he voted to allow foreign same-sex partners to receive green cards.[32] TheHuman Rights Campaign, which supports same-sex marriage and LGBT rights, gave him a 68% for their legislative scorecard.[33] In December 2010, Dent was one of fifteen Republican House members to vote in favor of repealing theUnited States military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban onopenly gay service members.[34][35]
In April 2010, Dent introduced a resolution urging theU.S. State Department to issue aCertificate of Loss of Nationality toAnwar al-Awlaki. He said al-Awlaki "preaches a culture of hate" and had been a functioning member of al-Qaeda "since before 9/11", and had effectively renounced his U.S. citizenship by engaging in treasonous acts.[36] Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen on September 30, 2011, and his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman was likewise killed two weeks later; both strikes were ordered by U.S. PresidentBarack Obama. Al-Awlaki's eight-year-daughter Nawar, also a U.S. citizen, was killed in a SEAL commando raid in Yemen on January 29, 2017. The raid was ordered by PresidentDonald Trump. In it, a SEAL was killed and an Osprey aircraft was destroyed.[37]
In January 2012, Dent co-sponsored theEnemy Expatriation Act with SenatorJoe Lieberman. The bill's purpose was "To add engaging in or supporting hostilities against the United States to the list of acts for which United States nationals would lose their nationality," where the term "hostilities" means any conflict subject to the laws of war.[38] The proposal would allow the United States government to strip U.S. citizens of their citizenship without requiring that the citizen have been convicted of a crime.[39]
Dent criticized PresidentDonald Trump's 2017executive order to temporarily curtail Muslim immigration until better screening methods were devised. He stated that "This is ridiculous. I guess I understand what his intention is, but unfortunately the order appears to have been rushed through without full consideration. You know, there are many, many nuances of immigration policy that can be life or death for many innocent, vulnerable people around the world."[40]
In 2005, Dent cosponsored H.R. 4411, theGoodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.[41] Dent stated in 2018 that he would "tuck" hisExport-Import Bank bill into the spending bill as an omnibus. The bill would "lower the quorum on the board so it could approve large loans once more." As of 2018, the reopened bank had a seven-member board that lacked a quorum.[42]
At the start of the 112th Congress, Dent received a new position on the coveted House Appropriations Committee, and continued to serve on the House Ethics Committee. In June 2013, Dent decided to co-sponsor theSafe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA), a bill that would require schools and districts to adopt policies specifically prohibitingbullying and harassment against all students, includingLGBT young people. Dent is known for his efforts to promote LGBT equality throughout the nation.[43]
Dent is a proponent ofhydrogen fuel and was one of the four founding members of the House Hydrogen Fuel Cell Caucus. In 2006, he proposed legislation aimed at promoting the rollout of commercial hydrogen fueling stations. He has spoken of his vision for the development of a "Hydrogen Highway East", similar to California GovernorArnold Schwarzenegger's plans for a Hydrogen Highway on the West Coast. Dent is a member of TheRepublican Main Street Partnership. In 2007 he was elected to co-chair theTuesday Group, a centrist organization of Congressional Republicans.[citation needed]
Dent is a proponent of drug prohibition, and is outspoken on the dangers of novelsynthetic drugs, having personally sponsored several bills aimed to schedule new psychoactive compounds. In 2011, he sponsored theSynthetic Drug Control Act of 2011, which sought to schedule a large number ofcannabimimetic agents, as well as 26 otherpsychoactive substances. The bill passed the House but did not make its way through the Senate.[44] On March 27, 2017, the bill was re-introduced as the Synthetic Drug Control Act of 2017.[45] If passed in its current text (as of May 14, 2017), this bill would schedule a large number of novel psychoactive substances, including 96phenethylamines, 94cannabimimetic agents, 15arylcyclohexylamines, 21tryptamines, 8benzylpiperazines, 4benzodiazepines, 4opioid or opioid-like substances, 8piperazines, and 2tropane alkaloids.[citation needed]
| Year | Winning candidate | Party | Pct | Opponent | Party | Pct | Opponent | Party | Pct | Opponent | Party | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Charlie Dent | Republican | 59% | Joe Driscoll | Democratic | 39% | Richard J. Piotrowski | Libertarian | 1% | Greta Browne | Green Party | 1% |
| 2006 | Charlie Dent (inc.) | Republican | 54% | Charles Dertinger | Democratic | 43% | Greta Browne | Green Party | 3% | |||
| 2008 | Charlie Dent (inc.) | Republican | 59% | Sam Bennett | Democratic | 41% | ||||||
| 2010 | Charlie Dent (inc.) | Republican | 54% | John Callahan | Democratic | 39% | Jake Towne | Independent | 7% | |||
| 2012 | Charlie Dent (inc.) | Republican | 57% | Rick Daugherty | Democratic | 43% | ||||||
| 2014 | Charlie Dent (inc.) | Republican | 100% | |||||||||
| 2016 | Charlie Dent (inc.) | Republican | 58% | Rick Daugherty | Democratic | 38% | Paul Rizzo | Libertarian | 4% | |||
Following his resignation from Congress, Dent joined the law firmDLA Piper as a non-attorney policy adviser. He registered as a lobbyist following the mandatory one-year cooling off period.[50]
On August 19, 2020, Dent announced his formal endorsement ofJoe Biden, the Democratic nominee for the2020 presidential election, joining other Republicans such asColin Powell,John Kasich,Christine Todd Whitman,Jeff Flake,Chuck Hagel,Susan Molinari andJohn Warner in choosing to vote for the Democrat in the election.[51]
On July 6, 2022, Dent endorsed DemocratJosh Shapiro in thePennsylvania Governor Election over RepublicanDoug Mastriano, claiming that Shapiro would 'unite the state' and that Mastriano 'is a threat to the rule of law'.[52]
On May 24, 2024, Dent appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal to discuss the formation of the group Our Republican Legacy (ORL) to facilitate what organizers call a "comeback" of the traditional principles of the party.[53]
On May 15, 2024, Dent had been challenged by CNN anchor Kasie Hunt to reveal details about the funding of the organization. CNN's transcript of the interview reads:[54]
HUNT: How much money do you have?
DENT: Well, I'm not here to say how much money we have. I can tell you, we have enough money to get us through this year. And we're going to raise even more. We're raising money from individuals and we're very excited about where we are.
HUNT: Thousands? Tens of thousands? Millions? Where are we?
DENT: Well, I'm not going to say. Well, we're going to -- we're going to be able to advance a program with digital marketing, with all kinds of things. So, don't worry about that. We're getting started. We're going to be well capitalized. And we're going to make -- we're going to make this thing stand on its own for some time.
As of May 2025, the organization's Instagram has 55 followers."Our Republican Legacy". May 9, 2025.
Dent is married to Pamela Jane Serfass and has three children.[citation needed]
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's 15th congressional district 2005–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Ethics Committee 2015–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chair of theTuesday Group 2007–2018 Served alongside:Mark Kirk (2007–2010),Jo Ann Emerson (2010–2013),Erik Paulsen (2013–2015),Adam Kinzinger (2013–2017),Bob Dold (2015–2017),Tom MacArthur (2017),Elise Stefanik (2017–2018),John Katko (2017–2018) | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
