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Tom Cotton

U.S. Senate · AR · Republicans · since 2021

also

Candidate for U.S. Senate · AR

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Biography

Overview

Tom Cotton is a Republican U.S. senator from Arkansas, serving since 2015. A former Army officer who served from 2013 to 2015 in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Arkansas's 4th congressional district, Cotton is known for his hawkish foreign policy views, particularly toward China, Iran, and Palestine. He chairs both the Senate Republican Conference and the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Career

As a House member, Cotton opposed Obama administration policies, the 2013 and 2014 farm bills, and criticized the Iran nuclear deal. In the Senate, Cotton blocked the nomination of Cassandra Butts to be ambassador to the Bahamas. During Trump's first term, he was characterized as a Trump loyalist who frequently met with transition staff. He supported Trump's travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries and co-sponsored the RAISE Act limiting family-based immigration. He was shortlisted as a potential Supreme Court nominee in 2020 but opposed overturning the 2020 election results in January 2021.

Prior political experience

Cotton was first elected to the House in 2012, defeating state senator Gene Jeffress with 59.5% to 36.7%. He was elected to the Senate in 2014, defeating incumbent Democratic senator Mark Pryor with 56.5% to 39.4%. Cotton was reelected in 2020, receiving 66.5% of the vote against Libertarian challenger Ricky Dale Harrington Jr., who garnered 33.5%—the strongest Libertarian performance in a U.S. Senate race by percentage.

Biographical material adapted from the Wikipedia article (retrieved April 29, 2026), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ideology

Liberal–Conservative (DW-NOMINATE dim 1)

Liberal
Conservative
119th Congress+0.578

Secondary axis (DW-NOMINATE dim 2)(?)

−1
+1
+0.199
Source: Voteview DW-NOMINATE · 665 scored votes

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Officeholding history

TermSeatTerm datesTerminationPredecessorSuccessor
2ndU.S. Senate AR Class 22021–presentIn progressTom Cotton—
1stU.S. Senate AR Class 22015–2021Term ended—Tom Cotton
1stU.S. House AR-42013–2015Term ended—Bruce Westerman

Committee assignments

Current term legislation

Bills sponsored this term10

Bills cosponsored this term10

Elections

YearSeatResultVote shareField
——Pending——