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Tom Cole: “I got a reputation as being pretty good.”

Featuring: Tom Cole, Republican | U.S. House Oklahoma, 4th Congressional District

The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK

Published June 30, 2026 | Video Starts at 06:16

So after that, well, after she wins her campaign, I just stay active and I start running races. Little school board races or special county commissioner race. And, and I got a reputation as being pretty good. And finally one of my clients, because I was at a critical point, dissertation, and I said, I really don't have time. (06:16–06:20)

CLAIM

Asserts that Tom Cole gained a reputation for being effective in running political races.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Tom Cole

“J.C. Watts, who is one of the best natural politicians I ever met. Only the second African American Republican elected in the 20th century.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 11:22-13:41
“In 2000, [it was the] first time in 48 years, Republican Party wins the presidency, the Senate and the house.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 12:28-12:35
“When I was chief staff the Republican National Committee, there were about 160 seats in the country that were decided within five points one…”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 31:50-32:02
“My mother had become a political activist. She grew up in a Democratic family in a Democratic state.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 02:34-02:42
“Her grandfather had been the last elected treasurer of the Chickasaw Nation before Dawes Commission in Oklahoma statehood.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 02:57-03:06
“His father had been a elected supreme court clerk, tribal supreme court clerk.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:05-03:14
“She got actively involved in local politics.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:19-03:23
“She was kind of a worker bee, you know, precinct chairman, then a county officer, then the state committee woman.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:22-03:29
“They finally talked her into running for the state legislature in an area that was very heavily Democrat.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:30-03:38
“Her first race was in 76.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:39-03:42
“I was in graduate school. I lived immediately adjacent to her district.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:41-03:47
“I was in London on a Fulbright fellowship.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 04:55-05:06
“I was teaching European history courses at the University of Oklahoma.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 05:09-05:14
“I put together a campaign and she won that time.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 05:37-05:41
“I start running races. Little school board races or special county commissioner race.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 06:11-06:17
“He [J.C.] decided late. So it's late June of 2002, and I knew nobody else could win that seat. Only JC could have won it. First Republican…”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 06:30-15:14
“I got a call from the state party chairman going into the 1980 campaign.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 06:46-06:54
“He said, will you take a year out of academic life and come and be the executive director of the state party?”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 06:53-07:00
“Mickey Edwards, who became the fourth ranking leader in the Republican Party, was the only Republican congressman in Oklahoma at the time.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 07:36-07:51
“State senate at that time was the most expensive state senate race in Oklahoma history.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 09:49-09:55
“Guy Vanderjack, who was, you know, longest serving chairman of the NRCC in history.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 10:33-10:39
“The primary was in July.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 15:15-15:18
“I decided I would make the race. It was a targeted NRC race.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 15:52-15:58
“In 06, I ran for NRCC chair.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 17:47-17:52
“I chaired two dues drives for the NRCC along with Kevin Brady.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 19:40-19:46
“We hadn't gotten a big bill out in five years [from the Labor Health and Human Services subcommittee].”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 24:56-24:59
“We both like biomedical research, you know, so we can do that.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 25:26-25:31
“We both liked early childhood, which is a really good investment for the country to make.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 25:31-25:36
“We both like to do things for first generation college kids because I think that changes the whole trajectory of a family.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 25:38-25:47
“I'm a pro life Republican. We're not going to agree on abortion.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 26:13-26:17
“I'm a Second Amendment, you know, classic kind of Republican.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 26:26-26:30
“I push the decision making down to my cardinals, like so subcommittee Chairman, I got 12 of them.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 27:34-27:40
“The politics of how you pass something is very different than it was back in the early 2000s.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 30:26-30:34
“Obama honestly radicalized the Democratic Party. It is so much further to the left now than when you and I first got here.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 30:41-30:51
“Today we have 48 senators in Oklahoma. 41 of them are Republicans.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 31:15-31:21
“83 of the 101 in the House [in Oklahoma].”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 31:21-31:24
“We lose the majority in 2006. Re. You know, regain it in 2010.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 32:24-32:24
“We passed the first Trump tax cuts in 2017 and we lost like 12 or 14 Republicans.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 32:24-32:34