Tom Cotton was born in Dardanelle, Arkansas in 1977. He earned a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard University in 1998, and a J.D. from Harvard in 2002. Cotton served in the United States Army from 2004 to 2009. He also worked as a law clerk, a lawyer, a management consultant, and a farmer. Cotton served in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015. Republican incumbent Tom Cotton is seeking a third term.
Tom Cotton is a sixth-generation Arkansan who was born and raised on his family's cattle farm in Yell County. An Army veteran, he served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has served Arkansas in the U.S. Senate since 2015.