Tom Cotton

Tom Cotton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Mike Ross
Personal details
Born	Thomas Bryant Cotton (1977-05-13) May 13, 1977 Dardanelle, Arkansas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Residence	Dardanelle, Arkansas
Alma mater	Harvard University Claremont Graduate University
Religion	Methodism
Website	Campaign website Government website
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	2005–2009
Rank	Captain
Unit	101st Airborne Division
Battles/wars	Iraq War Afghanistan War
Awards	Bronze Star Ranger Tab Combat Infantryman Badge

Thomas Bryant "Tom" Cotton^[1] (born May 13, 1977) is a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Arkansas's 4th congressional district since 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party. He is a U.S. Army veteran and a lawyer.

Born in Russellville, Arkansas, Cotton is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He worked as a law clerk and as an attorney in private practice before joining in the U.S. Army in 2005. Cotton served a tour in Iraq and Afghanistan, before leaving the military with the rank of captain in 2009. He worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company before returning to his hometown of Dardanelle, Arkansas to work on his family's cattle farm.

In September 2011, Cotton announced his candidacy to run for Congress, after five term incumbent Mike Ross announced he wouldn't run for reelection. On May 22, 2012, he won the Republican primary with 57% of the vote, later defeating Arkansas State Senator Gene Jeffress in the general election with 59% of the vote.

Early life and education

Cotton was born in Dardanelle, Arkansas, on May 13, 1977, the son of Avis (née Bryant) and Thomas Leonard "Len" Cotton.^[2] His father is a Vietnam War veteran who served with the 4th Infantry Division.^[3] After graduating from Dardanelle High School in June 1995,^[3] he attended Harvard College, where he served as a columnist for the Harvard Crimson, and a member of the Harvard Republican Club. After graduating from Harvard magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government,^[4] he went on to Harvard Law School, where he received his law degree in June 2002.^[3][5]

Military service

On January 11, 2005, Cotton joined the United States Army and entered Officer Candidate School in March 2005. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army on June 30, 2005. Cotton later attended both the U.S. Army Airborne School and Ranger School.^[3]

As an infantry officer and platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division, he was deployed to Baghdad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom on May 19, 2006. In Iraq, Cotton was responsible for a 41 man air assault infantry platoon in the 506th Infantry Regiment,^[6] and planned and led daily combat patrols. He completed his first combat tour in Iraq on November 20, 2006, and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Iraq Campaign Medal, and various campaign/service medals.^[3]

In June 2006, Cotton gained public attention after he wrote an open letter to The New York Times criticizing the paper's publication of an article detailing a Bush administration secret program monitoring terrorists' finances in which he called for three journalists, including the Times' editor, Bill Keller, to be imprisoned for espionage.^[7] The article was widely circulated online and reprinted in full in several newspapers.^[8]

Following his deployment in Iraq, Cotton was assigned as a platoon leader at The Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery,^[9] where he was responsible for conducting military honor funerals for veterans. In 2008, he volunteered to return to combat duty, was promoted to Captain on August 1, 2008, and deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on October 15, 2008. In Afghanistan, Cotton was assigned to Laghman Province, just north of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan. He was assigned duty as the operations officer of a Provincial Reconstruction Team, where he planned and resourced daily counter-insurgency and reconstruction operations for an 83-member joint and interagency team.^[3]

Cotton returned from Afghanistan on July 20, 2009. For his second tour in Afghanistan he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and various campaign/service medals. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on September 26, 2009 at Fort Myer, Virginia.^[3]

Law career

He served as a clerk at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for Judge Jerry Edwin Smith and then engaged in private practice^[10] as an attorney with the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Cooper & Kirk,^[11] where he concentrated in labor, employment, and constitutional law, in cases at all levels of state and federal courts.^[3] After leaving active duty, Cotton joined McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm. He subsequently returned to Dardanelle, where he works on his family's cattle farm.^[5]

U.S. House of Representatives

2012 election

Cotton ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican in Arkansas' 4th congressional district in the 2012 election, vacant as a result of Democratic U.S. Congressman Mike Ross' retirement.^[12]

In the 3rd quarter of 2011, Cotton reported raising $343,000 in donations.^[13]

In September 2011, the Democratic Party of Arkansas attacked Cotton for an article written 13 years earlier, in which he questioned the value of the Internet as a teaching tool in the classroom.^[14] Cotton has since stated that he believes the Internet has matured significantly over the past decade and has become a "vital tool for education and daily life" unlike the Internet of 1998.^[15]

Beth Anne Rankin, the 2010 Republican nominee, and John Cowart were the only other Republican candidates in the race after candidate Marcus Richmond dropped out in February 2012.^[16] In the primary on May 22, Cotton won the nomination, with 57% of the vote to Rankin's 38%.^[17]

Cotton carries the support of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum political action committee.^[18] He also had support from the Tea Party movement.^[19][20]

On election day, November 6, Cotton defeated State Senator Gene Jeffress, 59%-37%. He will be only the second Republican to represent this district since Reconstruction.

Tenure

On January 3, 2013, Cotton was sworn into the U.S. House by House Speaker John Boehner.^[21] As a freshman, he has been considered as a rising star in the Republican Party. Politico named him "most likely to succeed."^[22][23]

In August 2013, Cotton voted against student loan legislation in Congress. It was subsequently reported, and Cotton acknowledged, that Cotton himself had been the recipient of federally-backed Stafford loans while attending Harvard Law School. Critics such as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee charged that Cotton was being hypocritical by "denying students the same opportunities he received." In his defense, Cotton said that his vote was based on his opposition to the nationalization of the student-loan business which he claimed had been a component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Cotton explained: "I'm committed to bringing affordable higher education to every Arkansan and ending the federal-government monopoly on the student-lending business."^[24]

Committee assignments

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
  • Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade
• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
  • Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade

2014 U.S. Senate election

On August 6, 2013 Cotton officially announced he would challenge incumbent U.S. Senator Mark Pryor.^[25] Cotton has been endorsed by the fiscally conservative Club for Growth PAC.^[26][27][28]

References

External links

• Congressman Tom Cotton official U.S. House site
• Tom Cotton for Congress
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress
• Tom Cotton Letter at Snopes