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Tom Trail

American congressman in Idaho

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ7794529
Source-derived summary

Thomas 'Tom' Floyd Trail (July 29, 1935 – November 2, 2023) was a Republican Idaho State Representative from 1996 to 2012.

Education

Trail graduated from Moscow High School and earned his bachelor's degree in animal science from the University of Idaho. He earned his master's degree from the University of Maryland and earned his doctorate in experimental psychology from Montana State University.

Elections

Idaho House of Representative District 6 Seat A

2010

Trail was unopposed in the Republican primary. Trail defeated Democratic nominee Judith Brown again this time with 57.4% of the vote in the general election.

2008

Trail was unopposed in the Republican primary. Trail defeated Democratic nominee Judith Brown with 53.4% of the vote in the general election.

2006

Trail was unopposed for the Republican primary and the general election.

2004

Trail was unopposed for the Republican primary. Trail defeated Democratic nominee Mark Solomon with 60.8% of the vote in the general election.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Tom Trail” as american congressman in Idaho. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Trail, American and congressman.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1935, 2023, 1996, 2012—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1935-07-29. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Trail, American and congressman providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Tom Trail”, the useful work is to connect “american congressman in Idaho” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7794529. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1935, 2023, 1996 and 2012.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Tom Trail” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.