Tom Cole

Tom Cole's family includes the Chickasaw storyteller Te Ata, his mother's aunt.¹ A Chickasaw Nation member born in Shreveport, he grew up in Moore, where his mother, Helen, served as mayor, state representative and state senator.¹ His father, John, served in the Air Force and worked as a civilian at Tinker Air Force Base.¹

Cole earned degrees from Grinnell and Yale before completing a doctorate in British history at the University of Oklahoma in 1984.¹ He taught history and politics at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Baptist University.¹ He was also a founding partner and president of Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass and Associates, a political consulting firm.¹ Before his election to Congress in 2002, he served in the state Senate and as Oklahoma's secretary of state.¹

He now chairs the House Appropriations Committee.² Cole was House sponsor of H.R. 6938, which became law on January 23, 2026.³ The measure combined three annual federal spending bills covering commerce, justice and science; energy and water development; and interior and environmental programs.³

Cole says his priorities include energy independence, Second Amendment rights and protecting Oklahoma's military installations from spending cuts.⁴ He faces Democrat Mitchell Jacob and independent Rocco Bonacci for Oklahoma's Fourth District seat.⁵