Thomas Bryant Cotton (born May 13, 1977) is an American politician serving as the junior United States Senator from Arkansas since 2015. A member of t...
Thomas Bryant Cotton (born May 13, 1977) is an American politician serving as the junior United States Senator from Arkansas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015.
After the 9-11 attacks and a brief period of employment to pay off his student loans, Cotton abandoned his legal career to join the military. In 2005, Cotton was commissioned in the United States Army, where as an infantry officer he rose to the rank of captain. His military record includes service in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where he was awarded the Bronze Star and Combat Infantryman Badge. In 2019, Cotton published a book about the role of the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetary, partly based on his service in that unit as an officer.Cotton was elected as the U.S. Representative for Arkansas's 4th congressional district in 2012 and to the Senate at age 37 in 2014, defeating two-term Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor.
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John Hickenlooper
John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. (; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician, businessman and geologist serving as the junior United States Senato...
John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. (; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician, businessman and geologist serving as the junior United States Senator from Colorado, having defeated incumbent Cory Gardner in 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, Hickenlooper was mayor of Denver from 2003 to 2011 and governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019.
Born in Narberth, Pennsylvania, Hickenlooper is a graduate of Wesleyan University. After a career as a petroleum geologist, he co-founded the Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver in 1988. Hickenlooper was elected the 43rd mayor of Denver in 2003, serving two terms. After incumbent governor Bill Ritter said that he would not seek reelection, Hickenlooper announced his intention to run for the Democratic nomination in January 2010. He won an uncontested primary and faced Constitution Party nominee Tom Tancredo and Republican Party nominee Dan Maes in the general election. Hickenlooper won with 51% of the vote and was reelected in 2014, defeating Republican Bob Beauprez.
As governor, he introduced universal background checks and banned high-capacity magazines in the wake of the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting. He expanded Medicaid under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, halving the rate of uninsured people in the state. Having initially opposed marijuana legalization, he has gradually come to support it.
He sought the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2019 but dropped out before primaries were held. He subsequently won the Democratic nomination to challenge Cory Gardner, the one-term Republican incumbent U.S. Senator from Colorado. He won the general election and assumed office on January 3, 2021. At 68, Hickenlooper became the oldest first-term senator to represent Colorado.
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