Tom Cotton
Republican
· AR Senate · 117th Congress
Senate Republican Conf Chair · Senate Committee on Banking (Chair) · Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (Chair) · Joint Economic Committee · Senate Committee on Armed Services · and Urban Affairs · and Community Development · and Investment · Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · and Mining · Senate Committee on the Judiciary · and Consumer Rights · and Border Safety
Influence Score
76.0
Highly exposed
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This score measures financial influence across twelve categories. Each bar shows how this member compares to all others in Congress. Longer bars mean more exposure.
Score breakdown — twelve categories
Contributionsmoney from PACs (political action committees) and individual donors
12.0
/ 12
Outside spendingmoney spent by groups to help elect them
1.3
/ 6
Spent to help elect them
$374,210
Outside groups that spent to help elect this member — this drives the outside-spending bar above
Spent to defeat this member
$10,560
Outside groups that spent to defeat this member (not counted in this score)
Lobbyinghow hard lobbyists push the committees this member sits on
6.5
/ 10
Revolving door
former staff now working as lobbyists
2.3
/ 3
Vote alignmenthow often they vote the way their donors want
7.4
/ 12
Contribution timingmoney arriving near key votes
< 0.1
/ 6
Stock tradesbuying stocks in industries they regulate
0.0
/ 1
Dark moneyfunding from groups that hide their donors
0.0
/ 2
Outbound money distributionmoney this member sends out to the party and to colleagues
10.2
/ 16
Cluster network breadthhow many coordinated funding networks back this member
0.2
/ 10
Committee jurisdiction powerthe legislative reach of the committees this member sits on
10.0
/ 10
Foreign interestforeign-interest money — Israel-policy PACs and FARA-registered institutional lobbying allocated by committee jurisdiction
11.0
/ 12
Israel-policy PACs behind this score
REPUBLICAN JEWISH COALITION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (RJC-PAC)
$5,000 direct
FARA institutional lobbying
This member’s committees are targeted by $47.81M in lobbying from FARA-registered firms representing South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia. This exposure is weighted at 0.2% of face value in the score — $96K.
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Score across four congresses
Score and tier for each Congress. Members are ranked against others in the same Congress, so tiers are comparable across rows. Raw scores reflect different data availability per Congress.
| Congress | Score | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| 116th · 2019-2021 | 65.8 | Moderately exposed |
| 117th · 2021-2023 | 76.0 | Highly exposed |
| 118th · 2023-2025 | 38.8 | Least exposed |
| 119th · 2025-2027 | 87.5 | Most exposed |
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Biggest funding source
The single network behind the most money and influence
Network
SPECIAL OPERATIONS FOR AMERICA
Total money from this network
$74,000
Number of funding networks contributing
1
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Where most of the money comes from
What share of their combined contributions and outside spending comes from a single network. Party committees are excluded.
Network
AMERICA ONE
Share from this one network
48.3%
Amount from this network
$1,256,200
Total from all networks
$2,599,175
Networks contributing
250
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Who funds Cotton
Every funding network we can measure, ranked by influence
$13,335,101
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Does the money match their power?
Whether their money comes from the industries their committees actually oversee
Money from industries they regulate
96.6%
Extra weight when money matches their committees
2.00×
Extra weight for leadership role
1.25×
Share of outside spending tied to their policy areas
0.0%
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Money timed to key votes
Donations arriving near key votes in the policy areas this member regulates
Times money arrived near a vote
14
Money that arrived near votes
$55K
Distinct donors
23
Distinct employers
11
Share of their total fundraising
3.03%
Biggest clusters of timed money
COHEN KLINGENSTEIN
$7K
BLACKSTONE
$7K
J W CHILDS ASSOCIATES
$7K
APOLLO MANAGEMENT
$6K
APOLLO MANAGEMENT
$6K
JAB CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
$5K
APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT
$4K
APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT
$4K
HUNTINGTON INGALLS INDUSTRIES
$2K
APOLLO MANAGEMENT
$2K
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Top Donors
Biggest sources of contributions, grouped by employer, this cycle
HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL
$3.79M
LOCKHEED MARTIN
$3.31M
LOCKHEED MARTIN
$3.12M
BOEING
$2.05M
HARRIS
$2.03M
GLOBAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT
$2.02M
UNITED HEALTHCARE SERVICES
$1.93M
LOCKHEED MARTIN
$1.92M
GLOBAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT
$1.86M
HOMEMAKER
$1.72M
UP RAILROAD
$1.70M
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP
$1.68M
NORTHROP GRUMMAN
$1.49M
DELTA AIR LINES
$1.48M
CHARTER
$1.41M
SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES
$1.38M
ERNST YOUNG U S LLP
$1.36M
CENTENE
$1.34M
ABBVIE
$1.28M
AMGEN
$1.27M
Where the outside money comes from
How much of the outside spending for and against Tom Cotton comes from groups that disclose their donors versus groups that hide them
By funding network
AMERICA ONE
$665K
LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR A SAFER AMERICA PAC
$50K
HONORING AMERICAN LAW ENFORCEMENT PAC
$39K
THE LINCOLN PROJECT
$9K
REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP FUND INC.
$2K
EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY VICTORY FUND (EVERYTOWN VICTORY FUND)
$861
INDIVISIBLE PROJECT INC.
$488
SENATE CONSERVATIVES ACTION
$333
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Pro-Israel network donors
This counts contributions to this member from individuals whose FEC filings also show contributions to one of the 16 pro-Israel political action committees tracked by the Index. It is a measure of donor overlap — not a claim about why any individual gave, and not part of the influence score.
466 individuals who also gave to pro-Israel PACs contributed $2.25M to Tom Cotton across 760 contributions.
Total from shared contributors
$2.25M
Shared contributors
466
Contributions
760
By cycle
| Cycle | Shared donors | Gifts | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 19 | 103 | $93K |
| 2024 | 26 | 92 | $287K |
| 2026 | 434 | 565 | $1.87M |
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Tom Cotton's file shows clear influence markers across multiple categories for the top funding network, placing them in the upper range of this Congress. The pattern runs above what coincidence would produce, and the methodology page documents what each category requires.
Data: FEC (Federal Election Commission) filings · 118th–119th Congress · lobbying disclosures · VoteView recorded votes
All findings derived programmatically from public records · No prior knowledge required
All findings derived programmatically from public records · No prior knowledge required