Thomas Pryor Gore[1] (December 10, 1870 – March 16, 1949) was an American politician who served as one of the first two United States senators from Oklahoma, from 1907 to 1921 and again from 1931 to 1937.

In 1899, just before moving to Oklahoma Territory to practice law in Lawton, he formally joined the Democratic Party and campaigned for William Jennings Bryan.

In the Senate, his anti-war beliefs caused him conflict with Democratic presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

[3] When the District was established in 1790, the families that had been dispossessed to make way for the capital city, including the Gores, reaped significant financial rewards.

In 1894, the Populist party of Navarro County, Texas invited him to come to Corsicana to help them win elections.

He campaigned vigorously from Utah to New York for William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate for president in 1900.

[2] Returning to Texas, he ran as a Populist candidate for the 6th Congressional District in 1898, but lost because the party was already in decline.

He served as a delegate to the Populist convention that year, but in 1899, formally joined the Democratic Party.

Gore and William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray were co-leaders of Woodrow Wilson's Oklahoma campaign for the Presidency in 1912.

[2] He was known as a member of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, who supported many of Wilson's domestic programs,[4] and worked well with Republicans such as Robert La Follette.

[4] Gore was a pacifist and an anti-interventionist who campaigned against militarism, and loudly and vociferously condemned the malefactors of wealth as being the impetus for pushing America towards war;[5][6] though he was often referred to as an isolationist.

After leaving the Senate, he returned to his private law practice full-time in Washington D.C.[4] During the early stages of World War I, he co-authored the Gore-McLemore Resolutions to encourage American citizens not to travel aboard merchant vessels of countries participating in the war.

In addition to his opposition to the draft, Gore "was one of the earliest and most vigorous sponsors of a constitutional amendment to require a popular referendum on any congressional declaration of war.

In written response to constituents who favored the WPA, he told them that their attitude "shows how the dole spoils the soul.

He took 18% of the vote and ended up in fourth place, behind Congressman Joshua B. Lee, Governor E. W. Marland, and attorney Gomer Smith.

[9] Thomas married Nina Belle Kay (1877–1963), a Texas plantation owner's daughter, on December 27, 1900.

"[9] Gore Vidal stated that his grandfather was an atheist[12] and had a strong misanthropic streak: "He was a genuine populist; but he did not like people very much.