Larry Jent earned his B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1973 and his J.D. from the University of Colorado in 1983. He is a former U.S. Army officer and Green Beret and has served in the Montana Army National Guard.
Jent is a former Democratic member of the Montana State Senate where he represented District 32 from 2007 to 2015. In the legislature, Jent sponsored bills with a focus on community safety issues like meth labs, aggravated drunk driving, and using DNA to solve cold cases.