Tom Cotton (born May 13, 1977, in Dardanelle, AR) is a Republican member of the U.S. Senate from Arkansas. He won election to the seat formerly held by Democrat Mark Pryor in 2014. The race between Cotton and incumbent Mark Pryor was one of the biggest races in 2014. Both Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball ranked the race as a Toss Up. Additionally, FiscalTimes listed it as one of the seven most vulnerable seats in the country, and The Washington Post included it on their list of the top 10 races to watch in 2014.

Cotton is a former member of the U.S. House. He represented Arkansas's 4th Congressional District from 2013 to 2015. Upon taking office, Politico named him the freshman "most likely to succeed."

Based on analysis of multiple outside rankings, Cotton is an average Republican member of Congress, meaning he will vote with the Republican Party on the majority of bills.

Biography

Cotton received a bachelor's degree from Harvard College where he served as a columnist for the Harvard Crimson, graduating magna cum laude.

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. 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 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.

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.[8]

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 as an attorney with the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Cooper & Kirk,. 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.

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of Cotton's academic, professional and political career:[11]
2015-Present: U.S. Senator from Arkansas
2013-2015: U.S. Representative from Arkansas's 4th Congressional District
2010-2011: Management consultant, McKinsey & Co
2004-2009: United States Army Officer
2002-2003: Clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals
2002: Graduated from Harvard University with J.D.
1998: Graduated from Harvard University with B.A.

EDUCATION : -

Harvard Law School (2002), Harvard College (1998), Harvard University, and Claremont Graduate University

PERSONAL : -

13 May 1977, , Arkansas, Married to Anna Peckham and one Children.

Tom Cotton SENATE CAREER:

2015-2016
Cotton serves on the following committees
Joint Economic Committee
United States Senate Committee on Aging (Special)
Armed Services Committee
Subcommittee on Airland, Chairman
Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
Subcommittee on Personnel
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
Subcommittee on Economic Policy
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance
Select Committee on Intelligence

U.S. House
2013-2014
Cotton served on the following committees:
Financial Services Committee
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Debt
Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade
Foreign Affairs Committee
Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade

OFFICIAL CONTACT INFORMATION:

WEBSITES:

PERSONAL SITE : -

Not Available

GOVERNMENT SITE : -

Not Available

OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN SITE : -

Not Available

OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE : -

https://www.facebook.com/tom.cotton

OFFICIAL TWITTER PAGE : -

https://twitter.com/TomCotton