Tom Cotton is the junior United States Senator from Arkansas, having served in the Senate since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he was born in Dardanelle, Arkansas, in 1977 and is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School. After law school, he served as an officer in the United States Army, completing tours in Iraq as an infantry officer with the 101st Airborne Division and in Afghanistan as a ranger with the 82nd Airborne Division, earning the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Ranger Tab. Before his election to the Senate, he served one term in the United States House of Representatives representing Arkansas's 4th Congressional District.
Cotton sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he has been one of the most hawkish and outspoken voices on national security, foreign policy, and military readiness. He has focused heavily on China policy, Iran, and counterterrorism, and is widely regarded as one of the Senate Republican conference's most prominent voices on defense and intelligence matters. He is a frequent presence in national media and has been discussed as a potential presidential candidate.