Senator-elect Tom Cotton Discusses Victory, Potential Committee Assignments

Senator-elect Tom Cotton’s historic 17-point victory over incumbent Mark Pryor on November 4th signaled major changes in Arkansas’ political landscape, but even Cotton was surprised by the margins.

“We expected to win. We were confident that it would be a healthy margin, but maybe not quite so big and quite so quick,” Cotton said in his first major interview since Election Night. Cotton appeared on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, which airs Sundays at 9 a.m. on KATV Ch. 7.

He joked that the race’s early call happened soon enough for his 91-year old grandmother to see the returns before bedtime, but his nervous father took additional convincing.

“Maybe the most troubled person in my family was my dad, who is a bit of a worrier, at least the person who worries the most in the family. He’d been worrying for months about the race. Even after the race was called, he was worried they may have made a mistake. It took a few more minutes to convince him that it was really over,” Cotton said.

Cotton views the outcome of the Nov. 4th election as a political realignment in Arkansas, as many pundits and observers have noted, and he sees the potential for more GOP gains.

“There are no permanent victories or defeats in American politics, but I do believe now that Arkansas is a Republican state just like it’s always been a conservative state. We’ve seen over the past three elections in the last four years – and really over the last generation – Arkansans increasingly recognizing that the Obama Democrats simply don’t recognize those conservative values,” he said.

Cotton pointed to Republican gains in traditional Democratic strongholds, particularly in Northeast and Eastern Arkansas.

“It goes to show that our party is expanding its reach throughout the state and I think it will continue in coming elections as well. We still have many legislative seats that we could pick up, and I look forward to helping Republicans win at the county level as well,” Cotton added.

As for committee assignments, Cotton won’t know where he’ll be placed until after Louisiana’s December run-off Senate election. He won’t be allowed on the same committees as Arkansas’ other Senator, John Boozman. Currently, Boozman serves on the following four committees: Agriculture, Appropriations, Environment and Public Works, and Veterans’ Affairs.

Cotton mentioned an interest in the Armed Services, Intelligence, Foreign Relations, Banking, Energy & Natural Resources, and Judiciary committees, some of which have overlap from his one term of House service.

“Any committee in the Senate is an important place to serve,” Cotton said. “It’s an important way to represent the people of Arkansas. In the end, I’ll be happy with whatever committees I get.”

When pressed to name one committee he’d prefer, Cotton declined, saying, “I wouldn’t want to bias the process.”

Cotton also discussed current events on immigration reform and the Keystone XL Pipeline project. Watch his full interview below.