Rep. Tom Cole, a veteran Oklahoma Republican and chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, is on track to win his 12th term after fending off a challenge from a well-funded right-wing businessman in Tuesday’s primary.
First elected to Congress in 2002, Mr. Cole has long been a fixture in Oklahoma politics and an influential legislative voice behind the scenes at the Capitol. Less than an hour after the polls closed, The Associated Press reported that Mr. Cole was leading by a comfortable margin.
Cole became head of the influential Appropriations Committee in April, a coveted position in Congress that oversees the allocation of federal spending. The committee’s top member can direct federal funds not only across the government but also to his or her own district.
But as the Republican Party has shifted to the right in recent years and become increasingly dogmatic about cutting federal spending, Appropriations Committee proceedings have morphed into a political liability for Republicans. Mr. Cole’s opponent, Paul Bonder, a conservative businessman who opposes spending cuts, has tried to use Mr. Cole’s 15 years on the committee as ammunition against Mr. Cole. Mr. Bonder argued that Mr. Cole’s time in Congress had alienated him from his district and attacked his voting record as not conservative enough.
“Tom Cole voted with Democrats for billions of dollars in new deficit spending,” the TV ad’s narrator said. “Paul Bondar opposes new federal spending.”
Bondar made an early decision to pour significant amounts of his own money into the race: More than $8 million had been spent by the end of last week, making it one of the most expensive House primaries this year and Cole’s most competitive in years.
“It’s like an old-fashioned bar fight,” Cole told Roll Call. “It’s not the guy with the most money that wins a bar fight, it’s the guy with the most friends, and I have a lot of friends in the area.”
Cole’s predecessor, Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, who chaired the committee, also faced off against a better-funded candidate in the primary when she led the committee, but used her position in the district to easily win.
In the end, Cole’s status as a political veteran in the district and Bondar’s own political weaknesses (particularly his recent move to the state from Texas) carried him to victory. A hesitant interview in which Bondar admitted to dialing in from Texas to a local television reporter was widely circulated in the district.
“You can’t walk around the district without a map,” Cole said of his opponent in an interview earlier this month. “I’m not a stranger. My family on my mother’s side has lived in this district for 175 years, and my family on my father’s side has lived in this district for 140 years.”
