A Republican congressman from Arkansas announced on Tuesday that he will challenge Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) during his third-term reelection campaign, officially setting the stage for what political observers say will be a close race.
Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) made his announcement in his hometown of Dardanelle, Ark., during a barbecue dinner at the local community center. Cotton is serving his first term in the House and a prominent Republican leader is backing his bid.
“I know many people hope [Cotton] does [run] because he’ll probably win,” Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio), the chairman of Ripon Society, said in May. “He is just an outstanding addition to our conference.”
Cotton replaced Mike Ross, a former five-term congressman, to represent the fourth district of Arkansas. Cotton swept through his party’s primary with 57 percent of the vote and officially secured the seat in May 2012 after beating Democratic State Senator Gene Jeffess.
With a background in military and law, Cotton was placed on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Financial Services Committee. He has sponsored several pieces of legislation since entering Congress, including the recently introduced Community Bank Regulatory Relief bill that would delay implementation of the Basel III regulatory capital requirements on community and regional banks.
“I continually hear from bankers across Arkansas that the rules and regulations of the Dodd-Frank law have put them in a cloud of uncertainty and are hurting their ability to make loans to consumers and small business owners,” Cotton said regarding his proposed bill. “Further burdening those institutions-and, indirectly, the hardworking Arkansans who rely on them-with Basel III capital requirements that were designed for the largest Wall Street banks is neither prudent nor fair.”
Cotton also recently cosponsored and helped guide the passage of the Air Traffic Control Tower Funding Restoration Act to restore funding for contractor-operated air-traffic control towers without appropriating new funds.
His placement on the Subcommittees of Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit and Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Cotton said, allow him to live up to his campaign promise to fight government excess for hardworking families and small business owners.
“Unfortunately, the regulatory overreach of the Dodd-Frank law constrains small community banks while the Federal Reserve continues its adventures in the largest monetary stimulus in our history,” Cotton said.
Cotton hails from a sixth-generation Arkansan family. He was raised on a cattle farm, graduated with honors from Harvard College and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2002.
Cotton left his private law practice in 2005 to join the army. He spent five years as an active duty infantryman and received the Bronze Star Medal for his efforts.
“His background is amazing,” Tiberi said at a recent Ripon Society event.
Cotton attended the same Ripon Society event in May where he said that he felt honored to be a part of the Republican Party because of its noble history of standing for freedom.
“We were the party that recognized that all men were created equal,” Cotton said at the Ripon Society event.
Sean Trende, a senior elections analyst for RealClearPolitics, wrote in a recent article that if he had to predict a winner in the election, he would “probably put it in” Cotton’s favor.
Republicans are currently the minority in the Senate, however, Patrick O’Connor with the Wall Street Journal said on Sunday that the Republican Party is favored to win in 2014 and that Arkansas may be a “top target now that freshman Rep. Tom Cotton is entering the race.”