RightDataUSA


Tom Cole

[Congressional biography]

Born: April 28, 1949 in Shreveport, LA

Education:

  • Moore High School (Moore, OK), 1967
  • Grinnell College, B.A., 1971
  • Yale University, M.A., 1974
  • University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1984

Career:

  • Faculty member, University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Baptist University
  • Staff, OK Rep. Mickey Edwards, 1982-1984
  • OK Republican party chair, 1985-1989
  • Private advocate
  • Director, National Republican Congressional Committee, 1991-1995
  • Chief of Staff, Republican National Commitee, 1999-2000
  • Political consultant, 2000-2002

Elected Office:

  • OK Senate, 1988-1991
  • OK Secretary of State, 1995-1999

Other notes:

  • Member of the Chickasaw Nation


Election Results for Tom Cole


Click on the Year to see the results of that election.

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
2002 53 OK R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 21,789 59.7%
2002 53 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 106,452 53.8%
2004 55 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 198,985 77.8%
2006 57 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 118,266 64.6%
2008 59 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 180,080 66.0%
2010 61 OK R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 32,589 77.3%
2010 61 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 0 0.0%
2012 63 OK R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 22,840 87.7%
2012 63 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 176,740 67.9%
2014 65 OK R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 40,790 84.4%
2014 65 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 117,721 70.8%
2016 67 OK R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 28,813 71.4%
2016 67 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 204,143 69.6%
2018 69 OK R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 55,929 64.7%
2018 69 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 149,227 63.1%
2020 71 OK R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 55,699 76.3%
2020 71 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 213,096 67.8%
2022 73 OK R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 43,894 69.8%
2022 73 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 149,879 66.7%
2024 75 OK R U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 40,393 64.6%
2024 75 OK R U.S. House District 04 General 1 199,962 65.2%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this election.



Ideology Data for Tom Cole


Click on the number in the 'Conserv.' column to see all of the key votes for that year.

YearAgeBodyConservative
Coalition		Party UnityPresidential
Support		Vote %LiberalConserv.
P
2003 54 House 93 4 R 96 2 97 5 88
2004 55 House 96 3 R 88 12 99 0 96
2005 56 House 96 2 R 85 11 98 0 100
2006 57 House 95 4 R 97 3 99 0 84
2007 58 House 90 8 R 76 22 98 10 100
2008 59 House 91 5 R 71 27 96 10 88
2009 60 House 85 14 D 23 77 98 0 92
2010 61 House 86 10 D 29 71 96 0 96
2011 62 House 91 7 D 23 75 99 0 80
2012 63 House 89 11 D 17 83 99 0 72
2013 64 House 86 8 D 18 80 95 0 58
2014 65 House 91 8 D 14 86 97 0 64
2015 66 House 89 9 D 15 84 98 0 42
2016 67 House 95 4 D 6 94 99 5 71
2017 68 House 91 6 R 100 0 98 0 74
2018 69 House 95 4 R 100 0 99 0 68
2019 70 House 84 16 R 96 4 99 10 62
2020 71 House 95 5 R 97 3 99 5 61
2021 72 House 93 6 D 17 78 99 0 69
2022 73 House 85 15 D 43 57 99 59
2023 74 House 75 25 D 99 66
2024 75 House 77 17 D 93 82
Lifetime conservative rating:   75%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this row.


Conservative Coalition: According to the publication "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), this is an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats (from back when Southern Democrats tended to be conservative or at least moderate) against Northern Democrats in Congress.

This concept had significant meaning perhaps through the 1980's. These statistics stopped being computed after 2000 because conservative Democrats no longer existed except in very rare cases. The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the coalition; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the coalition. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Party Unity: According to CQ, a Party Unity vote in Congress is one in which the parties were split, with a majority of Democrats opposing a majority of Republicans.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with his party; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the party. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Presidential Support: These are votes for which the President has stated his position, either in via a message to Congress, by press conference remarks or other public statements and documents.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the President; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the President. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast. The "P" column indicates the party of the President in each year.


Vote %: The percentage of roll-call votes in which this Representaive or Senator participated by voting "Yes" or "No" (as opposed to "Present" or not voting at all.)


Liberal Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the ultra-liberal advocacy organization called "Americans for Democratic Action" (ADA). They have been rating members of Congress since 1947. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the liberal position on a key issue. The methodology behind the calculation can be found here. Ratings followed by an asterisk were calculated the "ADA way" due to missing data regarding key votes in the ADA source material.


Conservative Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the conservative advocacy organization called the "American Conservative Union" (ACU). They have been rating members of Congress since 1971. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the conservative position on a key issue.

The liberal and conservative ratings are not expected to add to 100% because the two groups use different sets of key votes to determine their ratings. Conservative ratings from 1961 through 1970 (and for 2024) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.