Thomas West

Rep. West currently serves as the House Assistant Minority Leader, but prior to his election to the state legislature, Rep. West served as a Canton City Council member for 13 years. Before City Council, he worked as a mental health professional for over 25 years. 

During his 6 years as a State Representative, Rep. West worked across the aisle to pass several pieces of bipartisan legislation, including bills that train EMS workers to properly handle patients with dementia, requiring police video interrogations for major crimes, establish a Children’s Behavioral Healthcare Network, and his nationally acclaimed legislation addressing lowering prescription drug cost through drug increased transparency and accountability of Pharmacy Benefit Managers. Rep. West is also the former President of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, Vice President of the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood, Vice Chair of the Police Training Funding Commission, and current member of the Ohio Advisory Council on Aging, the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Commission, and the Governor’s Executive Workforce Board. 

Rep. West earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Akron. He and his wife have two children and reside in Canton, Ohio.