Early life, education, and educating career

Cole was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, the son of Helen Te Ata (née Gale) and John D. Cole. He is a fifth-generation Oklahoman, having been raised in Moore, Oklahoma. He graduated from Grinnell College in 1971 with a B.A. in history. His postgraduate degrees include an M.A. from Yale University (1974) and a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma (1984), both in British history. Cole's PhD thesis was entitled Life and labor in the Isle of Dogs : the origins and evolution of an East London working-class community, 1800-1980. Cole did research abroad as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow and was a Fulbright Fellow (1977-78) at the University of London. He was a college professor in history and politics before becoming a politician.

Early political career

Following his mother Helen, who served as a state representative and senator, Cole served in the Oklahoma Senate from 1988 to 1991, resigning mid-term to accept a job in Washington. From 1995 to 1999, he was Oklahoma's Secretary of State under Governor Frank Keating, and assisted with the recovery efforts following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. He has also served as Chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party.

Cole has been heavily involved in national politics as well, having served both as Executive Director of the NRCC and as Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee (RNC).

Cole spent two years working as a paid consultant for the United States Chamber of Commerce, but his primary involvement in politics was as a political consultant for candidates. Along with partners Sharon Hargrave Caldwell and Deby Snodgrass, his firm (Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass and Associates) played a large part in the reconstruction of Oklahoma's political landscape, and backed a number of candidates that took office during the Republican Revolution of 1994. Among their clients have been Keating, J.C. Watts, Tom Coburn, Frank Lucas, Mary Fallin, Wes Watkins, Steve Largent, former Mississippi congressman Chip Pickering, and Hawaii governor Linda Lingle.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

During his initial campaign for the House of Representatives in 2002, Cole received the endorsement of Watts, the popular outgoing congressman. This helped him win a hard-fought general election over Democratic nominee and former Oklahoma State Senator Darryl Roberts. Cole subsequently won easy re-election campaigns in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Tenure

Following the 2006 election cycle, the members of the House Republican Conference elected Cole to the post of NRCC Chairman, placing him in charge of national efforts to assist Republican candidates for Congress.

His voting record during his nine years in the House marks Cole as a solid conservative with occasional libertarian sympathies. He has consistently voted pro-life and pro-business positions, and established himself as a supporter of free trade, gun rights, the military, veterans, and 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 awaits action by the Senate.

Cole has consistently voted against positions supported by lobbies for senior citizens, labor unions, and teachers' unions. However, he was critical in brokering protections for DOD civilian workers.

In June 2013, after another failure of the United States farm bill in Congress, Cole called the failure of the legislation inexcusable. His district in Oklahoma 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.

As Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Cole was responsible for introducing the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2015 (H.R. 4487; 113th Congress). The bill would appropriate $3.3 billion to the legislative branch for FY 2015, which is approximately the same amount it received in FY 2014. 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."

2016 House Speakership election

In the contest for House Speaker that followed the resignation of John Boehner Cole supported the claims of Paul Ryan:

“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.”

Committee membership

As of the 114th United States Congress, Tom Cole is a member of the following U.S. House committees:

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
• Committee on the Budget
• United States House Committee on Rules

Electoral history

Oklahoma's 4th congressional district: Results 2002-2014

Year		Republican	Votes	Pct		Democrat	Votes	Pct		3rd Party	Party	Votes	Pct
2002		Tom Cole	106,452	53.83%		Darryl Roberts	91,322	46.17%
2004		Tom Cole	198,985	77.77%		(no candidate)				Charlene K. Bradshaw	Independent	56,869	22.23%
2006		Tom Cole	118,266	64.61%		Hal Spake	64,775	35.39%
2008		Tom Cole	180,080	66.02%		Blake Cummings	79,674	29.21%		David E. Joyce	Independent	13,027	4.78%
2010*		Tom Cole	32,589	77.26%		(no candidate)				RJ Harris	Republican	9,593	22.74%
2012		Tom Cole	176,561	67.89%		Donna Marie Bebo	71,155	27.60%		RJ Harris	Independent	11,725	4.51%
2014		Tom Cole	117,721	70.80%		Bert Smith	40,998	24.66%		Dennis B. Johnson	Independent	7,549	4.54%

• 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.

Education policy

In 2013, Cole introduced the Home School Equity Act for Tax Relief. The bill would allow some homeschool parents to take tax credits for purchasing classroom materials.

Personal life

Cole and his wife, Ellen, have one son, Mason. He is a member of the United Methodist Church and lives in Moore.

Cole has said, "I was raised to think of myself as Native American and, most importantly, as Chickasaw."

Cole has said that a great-aunt of his was the Native American storyteller Te Ata.

Cole has said, "... mother Helen Cole was... extraordinarily proud of our Native American history and was, frankly, the first Native American woman ever elected to state senate in Oklahoma."

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

[ Source: Wikipedia ]