Dino John Rossi (born October 15, 1959) is an American businessman and politician who served as a Washington State senator thrice, from 1997 to 2003, in 2012, and again from 2016 to 2017.

He was the runner-up for the United States House of Representatives for the eighth congressional district in 2018, losing to Democrat Kim Schrier by 4.8%.

[1] Rossi was raised in Mountlake Terrace, graduated from Woodway High School in Edmonds, and earned a bachelor's degree in business management from Seattle University in 1982.

[8] In 1992, Rossi ran for a Washington State Senate seat in a district representing suburbs east of Seattle, in the Cascade foothills.

As Ways and Means chairman, Rossi helped to carry out Democratic governor Gary Locke's plans to close a $2.7 billion budget deficit.

[11][12] The budget chief for Democratic governor Gary Locke said of Rossi in 2003, "The really good legislators move from one side to the other really effortlessly, and I think Dino did that.

[12][13] Said former governor Locke, “For years, I have simply laughed when Dino Rossi took credit for devising a no-tax-increase budget for the 2003-2005 cycle while protecting vulnerable populations.

"[14] In 1998, he co-sponsored the Mary Johnsen Act,[15] to require ignition interlock devices for certain convicted drunk drivers in the state of Washington.

He also sponsored the Dane Rempfer bill[16] which boosted penalties for those who left the scene of a fatal accident, named after a 15-year-old boy from his district who was killed in a hit-and-run.

Rossi decided to run in November 2003,[17] but was already facing an uphill battle in terms of money raised, low name identification with voters and trends established by the two prior GOP candidates for governor.

[20] King County's election department was sued by the Rossi campaign for its handling of ballots, including untracked use of a "ballot-on-demand" printing machine.

[21] Even before the election date, the U.S. Department of Justice threatened to sue Washington State for failing to mail military ballots overseas, generally assumed to be Republican votes.

On May 25, 2005, the judge hearing the lawsuit ruled that the Party did not provide enough evidence that the disputed votes were ineligible, or for whom they were cast, to enable the court to overturn the election.

[38] Following his defeat in the 2008 gubernatorial election, Rossi "unplugged from almost everything political" and became a principal at Coast Equity Partners, a commercial real estate firm in Everett, Washington.

The Republican Party chose him over Kirkland City Councilman Toby Nixon and Joel Hussey from the King County Council.