This is an accepted version of this page Thomas Jeffery Cole (born April 28, 1949) is the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 4th congressional district, serving since 2003.

The others are fellow Oklahoma Republicans Markwayne Mullin (Cherokee) and Josh Brecheen (Choctaw), and Democrat Sharice Davids of Kansas (Ho‑Chunk).

Cole's PhD thesis was Life and Labor in the Isle of Dogs: The Origins and Evolution of an East London Working-Class Community, 1800–1980.

He resigned from the state senate mid-term to accept an appointment as executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

He backed a number of candidates who were elected to office during the Republican Revolution of 1994, when it gained dominance in the state.

Among their clients have been Keating, J. C. Watts, Tom Coburn, Frank Lucas, Mary Fallin, Wes Watkins, Steve Largent, Chip Pickering, and Linda Lingle.

[citation needed] During his initial campaign for the House of Representatives in 2002, Cole received the endorsement of Watts, the popular outgoing congressman.

[citation needed] In 2024, Cole won the Republican primary against four challengers, including Paul Bondar, Nick Hankins, Andrew Hayes, and Rick Whitebear-Harris.

[11] According to Cole, the bill meets its goals "in both an effective and efficient manner, and has done so in a genuinely bipartisan, inclusive and deliberative fashion.

[13] Cole expressed his intention in 2018 to push his Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act into the spending bill as an omnibus.

The bill would "make clear that the National Labor Relations Board has no jurisdiction over businesses owned and operated by an Indian tribe and located on tribal land.

"[14] The Lugar Center ranked Cole the ninety-first most bipartisan member of the House during the 114th United States Congress.

"[16] Cole supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

[25][26] In 2022, Cole was one of thirty-nine Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.

[36] Cole is featured in the play Sliver of a Full Moon by Mary Kathryn Nagle for his role in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.