 In February 2015, Dalton unsuccessfully ran for the federal Conservative nomination of Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, sitting as an independent MLA in the interim.Dalton rejoined the BC Liberals after the nomination serving as a backbench MLA until 2017 when he lost to British Columbia New Democratic Party challenger Bob D'Eith.In 2019, he ran a third time for the federal Conservatives and won.