Tom Cole
Official portrait, 2021
Chair of theHouse Appropriations Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office April 10, 2024
Preceded by	Kay Granger
Chair of theHouse Rules Committee
In office January 3, 2023 – April 10, 2024
Preceded by	Jim McGovern
Succeeded by	Michael C. Burgess
Ranking Member of theHouse Rules Committee
In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2023
Preceded by	Jim McGovern
Succeeded by	Jim McGovern
Chair of theNational Republican Congressional Committee
In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2009
Leader	John Boehner
Preceded by	Tom Reynolds
Succeeded by	Pete Sessions
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOklahoma's4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2003
Preceded by	J. C. Watts
26thSecretary of State of Oklahoma
In office January 9, 1995 – March 16, 1999
Governor	Frank Keating
Preceded by	Glo Henley
Succeeded by	Mike Hunter
Member of theOklahoma Senate from the 45th district
In office November 1988 – July 1991
Preceded by	Helen Cole
Succeeded by	Helen Cole
Personal details
Born	Thomas Jeffery Cole (1949-04-28)April 28, 1949 (age 76) Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.
Nationality	American Chickasaw Nation
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Ellen Decker ​ (m. 1971)​
Children	1
Relatives	Helen Cole (mother)
Education	Grinnell College (BA) Yale University (MA) University of Oklahoma (PhD)
Website	House website Campaign website
Academic background
Thesis	Life and Labor in the Isle of Dogs: The Origins and Evolution of an East London Working-Class Community, 1800–1980 (1984)
Cole's voice Cole supporting various FY2019 spending bills under consideration. Recorded September 26, 2018

Thomas Jeffery Cole (born April 28, 1949) is an American politician and former educator serving as theU.S. representative forOklahoma's 4th congressional district since 2003. A member of theRepublican Party, he previously served as the 26thsecretary of state of Oklahoma from 1995 to 1999 and in theOklahoma Senate from 1988 to 1991. In 2022, Cole became the longest-serving Native American in the history of Congress.^[1][2]

A member of theChickasaw Nation, Cole is one of fourNative Americans in Congress who are enrolled tribal members. The others are fellow Oklahoma RepublicansMarkwayne Mullin (Cherokee) andJosh Brecheen (Choctaw), and DemocratSharice Davids ofKansas (Ho‑Chunk).

The Center for Effective Lawmaking, at Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia, ranked him as the third-most effective House Republican in the 119th Congress (2023–25).^[3]

Cole was born inShreveport, Louisiana, the son of John D. Cole andHelen Te Ata (née Gale); the latter was the first Native American elected to theOklahoma Senate.^[2][4] They returned to Oklahoma, where family on both sides lived. His ancestors had been in the territory for five generations, and he was raised inMoore, halfway betweenOklahoma City andNorman.^{[citation needed]}

Cole graduated fromGrinnell College in 1971 with aBA inhistory. His postgraduate degrees include anMA fromYale University (1974) and aPhD from theUniversity of Oklahoma (1984), both inBritish history. Cole's PhD thesis wasLife and Labor in the Isle of Dogs: The Origins and Evolution of an East London Working-Class Community, 1800–1980. He did research abroad as aThomas J. Watson Fellow and was aFulbright Fellow (1977–78) at theUniversity of London. He served as an assistant professor in history and politics in college before entering politics and winning political office.^{[citation needed]}

Following his mother, who served as a state representative and senator, Cole was elected to theOklahoma Senate in 1988, serving until 1991. He chaired theOklahoma Republican Party for much of the 1980s. He resigned from the state senate mid-term to accept an appointment as executive director of theNational Republican Congressional Committee. From 1995 to 1999, he served as Oklahoma'ssecretary of state, appointed by GovernorFrank Keating. He assisted with the recovery efforts after the 1995Oklahoma City bombing.^[5]

Building on his involvement in national politics, Cole resigned from Keating's administration when asked to become chief of staff to theRepublican National Committee.^[6][7]

Cole spent two years working as a paid consultant for theUnited States Chamber of Commerce, but his primary effort in politics was as apolitical consultant for candidates. Along with partners Sharon Hargrave Caldwell and Deby Snodgrass, his firm (Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass and Associates) played a large part in strengthening the Republican Party in Oklahoma. He backed a number of candidates who were elected to office during theRepublican Revolution of 1994, when it gained dominance in the state. Among their clients have been Keating,J. C. Watts,Tom Coburn,Frank Lucas,Mary Fallin,Wes Watkins,Steve Largent,Chip Pickering, andLinda Lingle.^{[citation needed]}

During his initial campaign for theHouse of Representatives in 2002, Cole received the endorsement of Watts, the popular outgoing congressman. This helped him win the general election over Democratic nominee and former Oklahoma State Senator Darryl Roberts, with 53.8% of the vote to Roberts's 46.1%. Cole has won at least 63% of the vote in each of his eight reelection campaigns, and he ran unopposed in 2010.^{[citation needed]}

In2024, Cole won the Republican primary against four challengers, including Paul Bondar, Nick Hankins, Andrew Hayes, and Rick Whitebear-Harris.^[8][9]

Following the 2006 election cycle, the members of theHouse Republican Conference elected Cole to the post of NRCC chairman, placing him in charge of national efforts to assist Republican candidates for Congress.^{[citation needed]}

Cole has established a solidly conservative voting record in the House. He has consistently voted anti-abortion and for gun rights. He holds pro-business views and supports free trade, the military, and veterans. Another one of his priorities is educating other members of Congress on American Indian issues. He favors loosening immigration restrictions and imposing stricter limits on campaign funds. In 2012, he sponsored H.R. 5912, which would prohibit public funds from being used for political party conventions. This legislation passed the House in September, but died in the Senate.^[10] During his tenure, Cole has been a leading voice for strengthening protections for Native American women under theViolence Against Women Act.^[2]

In June 2013, after another failure of theUnited States farm bill in Congress, Cole called the failure inexcusable. His district inOklahoma includes some of the state's farming communities, and if the Farm Bill passed, it would have saved $40 billion over a ten-year period.^[11]

As chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Cole was responsible for introducing theLegislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2015 (H.R. 4487; 113th Congress).^[12] The bill would appropriate $3.3 billion to the legislative branch for FY 2015, about the same amount it received in FY 2014.^[13] According to Cole, the bill meets its goals "in both an effective and efficient manner, and has done so in a genuinely bipartisan, inclusive and deliberative fashion."^[14]

In 2013, Cole introduced the Home School Equity Act for Tax Relief. The bill would allow somehomeschool parents to taketax credits for purchasing classroom materials.^[15]

Cole expressed his intention in 2018 to push his Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act into the spending bill as an omnibus. The bill would "make clear that theNational Labor Relations Board has no jurisdiction over businesses owned and operated by an Indian tribe and located on tribal land."^[16]

The Lugar Center ranked Cole the ninety-first most bipartisan member of the House during the114th United States Congress.^[17]

In the contest for House Speaker that followed the resignation ofJohn Boehner, Cole supported the claims ofPaul Ryan, saying:

"Anyone who attacks Paul Ryan as being insufficiently conservative is either woefully misinformed or maliciously destructive. . . . Paul Ryan has played a major role in advancing the conservative cause and creating the Republican House majority. His critics are not true conservatives. They are radical populists who neither understand nor accept the institutions, procedures, and traditions that are the basis of constitutional governance."^[18]

Cole supported PresidentDonald Trump's 2017executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.^[19]

In January 2021, Cole voted against thecertification of the Electoral College results in the2020 presidential election.^[20] He subsequently voluntarily gave up an honorary degree fromGrinnell College.^[21] In May 2021, Cole voted against the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate theJanuary 6 insurrection.^[22]

In 2021, Cole joined a majority of Republican representatives in signing onto anamicus brief to overturnRoe v. Wade.^[23] Following theSupreme Court's decision to overruleRoe in June 2022, Cole celebrated the outcome, saying in part "not only is this a monumental win for states’ rights, but also the rights of unborn children."^[24]

Cole voted to provide Israel with support followingOctober 7 attacks.^[25][26]

In June 2021, Cole was one of forty-nine House Republicans to vote to repeal theAUMF against Iraq.^[27][28]

In 2022, 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.^[29][30]

• Committee on Appropriations (chair). He is the first Native American and the first Oklahoman to be chair of this committee.^[31][32]

• Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans^[33]
• Republican Study Committee^[34]

• In 2010, no Democrat or independent candidate filed to run in OK-4. The results printed here are from the Republican primary, where the election was decided.

Cole and his wife, Ellen, have one son. Cole is a member of theUnited Methodist Church and lives in Moore.

Cole has said, "I was raised to think of myself as Native American and, most importantly, asChickasaw."^[37] Cole has said that a great-aunt of his was the Native American storytellerTe Ata.^[37] Describing his heritage, he said his "mother Helen Cole^[38] was . . . extraordinarily proud of [their] Native American history and was, frankly, the first Native American woman ever elected to state senate in Oklahoma."^[37] She was the first Native American of any gender elected to the state senate in Oklahoma.^[2][4]

Cole sits on theSmithsonian Institution Board of Regents and the National Fulbright Association.^[39] Cole is featured in the playSliver of a Full Moon byMary Kathryn Nagle for his role in the reauthorization of theViolence Against Women Act in 2013.^[40]

• List of Native Americans in the United States Congress
• List of Native American politicians

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTom Cole.

• Congressman Tom Cole official U.S. House website
• Tom Cole for Congress
• Appearances onC-SPAN
• Biography at theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at theFederal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at theLibrary of Congress
• Profile atVote Smart
• Biography and Videos – Chickasaw.TV

• 1949 births
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• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma
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