30 Facts About Tom Cole

Thomas Jeffery Cole was born on April 28,1949 and is the US representative for, serving since 2003.

Tom Cole is a member of the Republican Party and serves as the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

In 2022, Tom Cole became the longest-serving Native American in the history of Congress.

Tom Cole's ancestors had been in the territory for five generations, and he was raised in Moore, halfway between Oklahoma City and Norman.

Tom Cole graduated from Grinnell College in 1971 with a BA in history.

Tom Cole did research abroad as a Thomas J Watson Fellow and was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of London.

Tom Cole served as an assistant professor in history and politics in college before entering politics and winning political office.

Tom Cole chaired the Oklahoma Republican Party for much of the 1980s.

Tom Cole resigned from the state senate mid-term to accept an appointment as executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Tom Cole assisted with the recovery efforts after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Tom Cole spent two years working as a paid consultant for the United States Chamber of Commerce, but his primary effort in politics was as a political consultant for candidates.

Tom Cole backed a number of candidates who were elected to office during the Republican Revolution of 1994, when it gained dominance in the state.

In 2024, Tom Cole won the Republican primary against four challengers, including Paul Bondar, Nick Hankins, Andrew Hayes, and Rick Whitebear-Harris.

Tom Cole has established a solidly conservative voting record in the House.

Tom Cole has consistently voted anti-abortion and for gun rights.

Tom Cole holds pro-business views and supports free trade, the military, and veterans.

Tom Cole favors loosening immigration restrictions and imposing stricter limits on campaign funds.

In June 2013, after another failure of the United States farm bill in Congress, Tom Cole called the failure inexcusable.

In 2013, Tom Cole introduced the Home School Equity Act for Tax Relief.

Tom Cole expressed his intention in 2018 to push his Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act into the spending bill as an omnibus.

Tom Cole supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the US to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

In January 2021, Tom Cole voted against the certification of the Electoral College results in the 2020 presidential election.

In May 2021, Tom Cole voted against the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection.

In 2021, Cole joined a majority of Republican representatives in signing onto an amicus brief to overturn Roe v Wade.

Tom Cole voted to provide Israel with support following 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

In June 2021, Tom Cole was one of forty-nine House Republicans to vote to repeal the AUMF against Iraq.

In 2022, Tom Cole was one of thirty-nine Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.

Tom Cole is a member of the United Methodist Church and lives in Moore.

Tom Cole sits on the Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents and the National Fulbright Association.

Tom Cole is featured in the play Sliver of a Full Moon by Mary Kathryn Nagle for his role in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.