Tom Cole

Jeffery Thomas "Tom" Cole ( born April 28, 1949 in Shreveport, Louisiana) is a politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. He is since 2003 a member of the House of Representatives and is representing the fourth congressional district of the state of Oklahoma.

Tom Cole made ​​his high school degree in Moore ( Oklahoma) and graduated as a result the Grinnell College in Iowa, where he earned a bachelor's degree, Yale University, where he received the Master's degree, and finally the University of Oklahoma, where it for Ph.D. received his doctorate. As a result, he was a member of both the faculty of the university as well as those of the Oklahoma Baptist University.

Between 1982 and 1984, Cole worked on the staff of Congressman Mickey Edwards. As a result, he struck himself a political career; as he stood from 1985 to 1989 of the Republican Party of Oklahoma ago. Between 1988 and 1991 he sat in the Senate of that State; 1995 to 1999 he practiced then from the Office of the Secretary of State in the government of Oklahoma. Finally, he was first elected in 2002 to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he prevailed with 54 percent of the vote to Democrat Darryl Roberts. In 2004, he was confirmed unopposed; in the following two elections he won with a vote share of 65 and 66 percent.

Cole was 2007-2009 Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. As a member of the tribe of Chickasaw he is currently (2012 ) is the only descendant of continental Native American in Congress.