Cox campaigned for Dan Kubiak during his bid for Texas Land Commissioner in the early 1980s.
Kubiak lost to his opponent Garry Mauro, who was impressed by Cox's work and hired him as assistant land commissioner.
[1] He received an MA in history in 1988,[3] and was the first recipient of the Bill R. Brunson Research Award in 1989.
He is the assistant director of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at University of Texas.
[10][11] He also contributed to Chuck Bailey's 2015 Picturing Texas Politics: A Photographic History from Sam Houston to Rick Perry.