The file

Tom Cotton

Republican · U.S. Senator, Arkansas · Arkansas · Spectrum score +67

Senate ·

Tom Cotton is U.S. Senator, Arkansas in Arkansas. Political positions and ideology score +67 (Far right). Cotton is the officer who never left the briefing.

College: Harvard College, B.A. 1998 · Harvard Law School, J.D. 2002
Spouse: Anna Cotton (m. 2014)
Children: Two
Résumé: U.S. Senator · Arkansas · 2015–
U.S. Representative · Arkansas-4 · 2013–2015
U.S. Army infantry officer · 2005–2009

Net worth: $3.2M
Salary: $174,000
Before office: $500K
2026 raised: $9.4M
Years in office: 13

Where Tom stands on the spectrum

Tom Cotton scores +67 on Spectrum’s left–right line (far right), right of center on the economy and conservative on social issues. The number is modeled from twelve issue positions and the public record — not a poll and not a party label.

Composite +67 · Far right · economic +68 · social +70 · authoritarian +42

Confidence 94. How we calculate scores →

Background & record

Cotton is the officer who never left the briefing. The file is Arkansas’s corporate spine — retail, poultry, defense — under a China-hawk paint job. Not a scandal. A constituency.

Finances

Modeled midpoints from public disclosures — not an audit of any household.

Net worth

$3.2M

+540% since taking office

Senate disclosure midpoint, 2024

Before office$500K

Now$3.2M

Army to House to Senate. Defense and Walmart-state money. Austerely hawkish, comfortably funded.

Money in · 2026 cycle

Raised: $9.4M
Cash on hand: $5.0M

Top industries

Defense
Agribusiness
Walmart-adjacent
Lawyers

Stock holdings

Index / retirement funds

Arkansas retail-and-ag. Funds.

Disclosure midpoint, 2024–25 · STOCK Act ranges, not an audit

VTI
Vanguard Total Stock Market
Joint
$100K–$500K
VXUS
Vanguard Total International
Joint
$30K–$150K

Ticker	Name	Owner	Range
VTI	Vanguard Total Stock Market	Joint	$100K–$500K
VXUS	Vanguard Total International	Joint	$30K–$150K

Sum of ranges $130K–$650K · midpoint $390K

X sentiment

Last 7 days

Odds

Polymarket · Kalshi

Implied probability from open contracts. Real money, not a poll. Updates while you sit here.

Live wire

Live · checked just now

New articles land here as they publish. Checking about every 12 seconds.

Conflicts

Arkansas retail-and-ag money vs a national security brand.
China bills that play on TV and in the donor memo.

Issue detail

−100 left pole · +100 right pole

Economic: +68
Social: +70
Authoritarian: +42
Confidence: 94

Taxes & spending+74
Lower taxes, smaller fiscal footprint
Health care+62
Private insurance markets, fewer mandates
Climate & energy+70
Energy abundance, fewer climate mandates
Business regulation+70
Deregulation and lighter administrative state
Labor & wages+58
Flexible labor markets, right-to-work
Immigration+78
Tighter borders, more deportations
Abortion+72
Restrictions or bans, fetal personhood
Guns+78
Broad Second Amendment, fewer federal limits
Crime & policing+78
More policing, longer sentences, less bail reform
Schools & speech+66
Choice, against gender/DEI curricula
Defense & alliances+90
Hard power, high defense spending, deterrence
Civil liberties+46
Order, platform / campus / speech restrictions for security or morality

Legislative first dimension (NOMINATE-like): 0.61

Compass

Auth · leftAuth · rightLib · leftLib · rightAuthoritarianLibertarianEconomic leftEconomic right

Sources

DW-NOMINATE
Wealth and fundraising are modeled midpoints from public disclosures — not an audit.
College, family, and résumé are public-record facts, not a campaign bio.