Rep. Tom Cole

Representative for Oklahoma’s 4^th District

pronounced tom // kohl

Cole is the representative for Oklahoma’s 4^th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 7, 2003. Cole’s current term ends on Jan 3, 2025. He is 75 years old.

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Elections must be decided by counting votes

Our work to hold Congress accountable only matters if elections are decided by counting votes. President Trump, his advisors and associates, and Republican legislators collaborated to have the 2020 presidential election decided by themselves rather than by voters through their attempts to suppress state-certified election results at both the state and national level.

Cole was among the Republican legislators who participated in this. On January 6, 2021 in the hours after the violent insurrection at the Capitol, Cole voted to omit Arizona and/or Pennsylvania from the counting of presidential electors, which could have altered the outcome of the election in Trump’s favor.

In 2023, Trump associates and top advisors pleaded guilty to submitting a fraudulent slate of electors to Congress from Georgia, making false statements about purported widespread fraud in the election, and tampering with voting machines after the election, admitted in civil court to posing as fake electors in Wisconsin, and were convicted of contempt of Congress for withholding documents during its investigation and assaulting police officers at the Capitol. Trump associates and top advisors are also facing charges for submitting fraudulent slates of electors to Congress (in Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, and Wisconsin) and Trump himself faces related criminal charges in state court. (He was also convicted in 2024 of falsifying business records to cover up acts that he believed might have hurt him in the 2016 election.) The January 6, 2021 violent insurrection at the Capitol, led on the front lines by militant white supremacy groups one member of which was convicted of sedition, attempted to prevent President-elect Joe Biden from taking office by disrupting Congress’s count of electors.

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Cole is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills legislators have sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Nov 29, 2024. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Tom Cole sits on the following committees:

House Committee on Appropriations Chair

Enacted Legislation

Cole was the primary sponsor of 13 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

View All »

Does 13 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Cole sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Native Americans (30%) Economics and Public Finance (19%) Health (19%) Crime and Law Enforcement (11%) Social Welfare (7%) Government Operations and Politics (7%) Law (7%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Cole recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Cole voted Yea

H.Res. 1160: Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 8034) making emergency supplemental appropriations to respond to the situation in …

Passed 316/94 on Apr 19, 2024.

Cole voted No

H.Res. 712: Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 4365) making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal …

Failed 212/216 on Sep 21, 2023.

Cole voted Yea

H.R. 3843 (117th): Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022

Passed 242/184 on Sep 29, 2022.

Cole voted Yea

H.R. 7900: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023

Passed 329/101 on Jul 14, 2022.

Cole voted Yea

S. 2938: Bipartisan Safer Communities Act

Passed 230/190 on May 18, 2022.

Cole voted Yea

H.R. 2119 (117th): Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021

Passed 228/200 on Oct 26, 2021.

Cole voted Yea

H.R. 256 (117th): To repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.

Passed 268/161 on Jun 17, 2021.

Cole voted Nay

H.R. 3115: Superior National Forest Land Exchange Act of 2017

Passed 309/99 on Nov 28, 2017.

Cole voted Aye

H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015

Passed 319/108 on Sep 17, 2014.

Cole voted No

H.R. 3521 (112th): Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act of 2012

Passed 254/173 on Feb 8, 2012.

Cole voted Aye

H.R. 1249 (112th): Leahy-Smith America Invents Act

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.

The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack …

Cole voted Nay

H.Res. 915 (111th): Encouraging the Republic of Hungary to respect the rule of law, treat foreign investors fairly, and promote …

Passed 333/74 on Dec 8, 2009.

Missed Votes

From Jan 2003 to Nov 2024, Cole missed 318 of 14,465 roll call votes, which is 2.2%. This is on par with the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
2003 Jan-Mar	94	0	0.0%	0^th
2003 Apr-Jun	239	9	3.8%	66^th
2003 Jul-Sep	193	3	1.6%	44^th
2003 Oct-Dec	151	8	5.3%	65^th
2004 Jan-Mar	104	1	1.0%	21^st
2004 Apr-Jun	221	4	1.8%	41^st
2004 Jul-Sep	161	2	1.2%	21^st
2004 Oct-Dec	58	0	0.0%	0^th
2005 Jan-Mar	90	3	3.3%	45^th
2005 Apr-Jun	272	6	2.2%	50^th
2005 Jul-Sep	146	3	2.1%	57^th
2005 Oct-Dec	163	5	3.1%	57^th
2006 Jan-Mar	81	1	1.2%	38^th
2006 Apr-Jun	276	2	0.7%	15^th
2006 Jul-Sep	159	4	2.5%	56^th
2006 Nov-Dec	27	1	3.7%	56^th
2007 Jan-Mar	213	3	1.4%	44^th
2007 Apr-Jun	393	3	0.8%	26^th
2007 Jul-Sep	317	8	2.5%	69^th
2007 Oct-Dec	263	16	6.1%	79^th
2008 Jan-Mar	149	9	6.0%	71^st
2008 Apr-Jun	321	13	4.0%	68^th
2008 Jul-Sep	205	8	3.9%	72^nd
2008 Oct-Dec	15	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Jan-Mar	174	1	0.6%	24^th
2009 Apr-Jun	303	4	1.3%	35^th
2009 Jul-Sep	268	3	1.1%	35^th
2009 Oct-Dec	246	10	4.1%	71^st
2010 Jan-Mar	195	2	1.0%	25^th
2010 Apr-Jun	219	18	8.2%	83^rd
2010 Jul-Sep	151	4	2.6%	66^th
2010 Nov-Dec	99	2	2.0%	39^th
2011 Jan-Mar	212	2	0.9%	42^nd
2011 Apr-Jun	281	7	2.5%	70^th
2011 Jul-Sep	247	3	1.2%	40^th
2011 Oct-Dec	208	1	0.5%	14^th
2012 Jan-Mar	151	2	1.3%	48^th
2012 Apr-Jun	299	1	0.3%	14^th
2012 Jul-Sep	152	1	0.7%	29^th
2012 Nov-Dec	51	4	7.8%	76^th
2013 Jan-Jan 112th Congress	5	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	89	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Apr-Jun	215	27	12.6%	95^th
2013 Jul-Sep	200	7	3.5%	78^th
2013 Oct-Dec	137	2	1.5%	42^nd
2014 Jan-Mar	148	2	1.4%	40^th
2014 Apr-Jun	219	10	4.6%	76^th
2014 Jul-Sep	147	1	0.7%	30^th
2014 Nov-Dec	49	1	2.0%	57^th
2015 Jan-Mar	144	2	1.4%	40^th
2015 Apr-Jun	244	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Jul-Sep	139	3	2.2%	66^th
2015 Oct-Dec	177	6	3.4%	79^th
2016 Jan-Mar	137	5	3.6%	57^th
2016 Apr-Jun	204	2	1.0%	31^st
2016 Jul-Sep	232	2	0.9%	41^st
2016 Nov-Dec	48	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	208	2	1.0%	39^th
2017 Apr-Jun	136	13	9.6%	93^rd
2017 Jul-Sep	199	1	0.5%	40^th
2017 Oct-Dec	167	1	0.6%	26^th
2018 Jan-Mar	129	2	1.6%	37^th
2018 Apr-Jun	184	6	3.3%	63^rd
2018 Jul-Sep	102	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Nov-Dec	85	0	0.0%	0^th
2019 Jan-Mar	136	1	0.7%	33^rd
2019 Apr-Jun	294	0	0.0%	0^th
2019 Jul-Sep	125	0	0.0%	0^th
2019 Oct-Dec	146	2	1.4%	52^nd
2020 Jan-Mar	102	0	0.0%	0^th
2020 Apr-Jun	31	0	0.0%	0^th
2020 Jul-Sep	80	0	0.0%	0^th
2020 Oct-Dec	40	1	2.5%	43^rd
2021 Jan-Mar	97	1	1.0%	41^st
2021 Apr-Jun	107	1	0.9%	42^nd
2021 Jul-Sep	108	2	1.9%	65^th
2021 Oct-Dec	137	1	0.7%	34^th
2022 Jan-Mar	102	0	0.0%	0^th
2022 Apr-Jun	197	2	1.0%	62^nd
2022 Jul-Sep	178	0	0.0%	0^th
2022 Nov-Dec	72	0	0.0%	0^th
2023 Jan-Mar	182	1	0.5%	38^th
2023 Apr-Jun	107	1	0.9%	36^th
2023 Jul-Sep	224	2	0.9%	48^th
2023 Oct-Dec	211	0	0.0%	0^th
2024 Jan-Mar	104	2	1.9%	48^th
2024 Apr-Jun	231	25	10.8%	88^th
2024 Jul-Sep	120	3	2.5%	50^th
2024 Nov-Nov	23	1	4.3%	55^th

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
GPO Member Guide for the photo
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills

Rep. Tom Cole

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Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Committee Membership

Enacted Legislation

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Recently Introduced Bills

Voting Record

Key Votes

Cole voted Yea

Cole voted No

Cole voted Yea

Cole voted Yea

Cole voted Yea

Cole voted Yea

Cole voted Yea

Cole voted Nay

Cole voted Aye

Cole voted No

Cole voted Aye

Cole voted Nay

Missed Votes

Primary Sources