Tom Cotton, born Thomas Bryant Cotton in 1977, is a senior U.S. Senator from Arkansas, first elected in 2014 and serving since 2015. Raised on a cattle farm in Dardanelle, Arkansas, his political identity is deeply rooted in his rural upbringing and military service. A conservative Republican, he is widely regarded as one of the most reliably conservative and hawkish members of the Republican Party, frequently aligning with the nationalist-populist wing on issues of immigration and trade, while maintaining traditional neoconservative stances on foreign intervention and defense. After briefly practicing law and working as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, Cotton enlisted in the United States Army in 2005. He served as an infantry officer, completing combat tours in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division and in Afghanistan with a Provincial Reconstruction Team, and as a platoon leader in the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. Cotton entered politics in 2012, winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for Arkansas's 4th district, before successfully challenging incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Pryor in 2014. In the Senate, he serves on the Committees on Armed Services, Intelligence, and the Judiciary, and has gained national attention for authoring the 2015 Open Letter to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran and his 2020 New York Times op-ed 'Send in the Troops,' which called for federal military intervention to quell civil unrest following the death of George Floyd. He is known for hawkish views on foreign policy and national security, with strong advocacy for Israel, support for sanctions against Iran, decoupling from China, and increased defense spending. Cotton is a vocal advocate for strict immigration controls, border security, opposition to amnesty programs, and co-author of the RAISE Act, which seeks to halve legal immigration levels and move to a merit-based system. He has also expressed strong opposition to the First Step Act, advocating for law and order policies, including a zero-tolerance approach to lawlessness and potential use of the Insurrection Act to deploy federal troops during the 2020 protests. A prolific fundraiser and key figure in Republican strategy, Cotton's wealth is primarily derived from his previous private-sector career, book deals such as a $500,000+ advance from HarperCollins in 2019, and his annual Senate salary of $174,000. His father, Thomas J. Cotton, is a farmer and businessman from Arkansas.