Tom Cotton beat Democrat Hallie Shoffner to win a third term, keeping Arkansas’s Senate seat in Republican hands.
Tom Cotton is Arkansas’s junior senator. He has held the seat since 2015 and is one of the Republican Party’s best-known voices on defense and foreign policy. He chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Cotton grew up in Dardanelle, Arkansas, and went to Harvard. After law school and a short time in private law practice, he joined the U.S. Army after the September 11 attacks. He served nearly five years on active duty as an infantry officer, with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and earned the Bronze Star.
He won a U.S. House seat in 2012, then beat a sitting Democratic senator, Mark Pryor, in 2014 to reach the Senate. He won again in 2020.
In this year’s race, the Associated Press declared Cotton the winner over Hallie Shoffner, a sixth-generation farmer, at 10:40 p.m. EST on election night. Libertarian Jeff Wadlin also ran. Cotton took about 54 percent of the vote to Shoffner’s 43 percent.
His win matters because Arkansas stays solidly Republican on a night when Democrats won control of the Senate. Cotton is often named as a possible presidential contender in 2028.
What to watch: how Cotton uses his senior role on intelligence and defense issues in a Senate now run by Democrats.
Fast facts
- Age: 49
- Party: Republican
- Office: U.S. Senator
- State: Arkansas
- Previous job: U.S. Army infantry officer; U.S. representative from Arkansas
- Called by AP: 10:40 p.m. EST, Nov. 3, 2026
Part of the Zark News Election 2026 winners profile series. Winners are listed as called by the Associated Press.
