I’m not sure how much of a hawk Cotten is but from what I’ve seen he has a pretty good head on his shoulders. I do have a problem with his position on Syria, but otherwise I think he’d make a good addition to the Senate:
POLITICO – Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) plans to announce a Senate bid next week, challenging incumbent Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) in a state that is considered a top pick-up opportunity for Republicans, a source confirmed to POLITICO Wednesday.
The freshman congressman, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is a star among neoconservatives and could serve as a major counterweight to the more libertarian voices of the Senate, including Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.
Arkansas is one of a handful of Republican-leaning states represented by Democrats — Louisiana, North Carolina and Alaska are the others — that are critical to the GOP’s chances of flipping the Senate next year. The party needs to net six seats to capture the chamber. But Democrats say history is in their favor, noting that only three of their incumbents have lost in the past decade.
Cotton, a military veteran with two Harvard degrees and a stint consulting for McKinsey & Co. under his belt, is a favorite of some Republicans, especially hawkish types, many of whom have been hoping he’d run for Senate. He will face off against Pryor, a two-term conservative Democrat, in the deep-red state. When asked to confirm his Senate bid, his campaign offered details of a barbecue Cotton will hold in Dardanelle, Ark. next week at a community center.
“On Tuesday Tom is inviting his hometown and all who have supported him along the way to hear about his fight to represent Arkansas’s values in DC,” his campaign said in an email. “He looks forward to sharing his plans to continue that fight in the coming year.”