Representative Tom Cole, the veteran Oklahoma Republican and chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, fended off a primary challenge Tuesday from a well-funded right-wing businessman, putting him on track to win a 12th term.
Mr. Cole, who was first elected to Congress in 2002, has long been a fixture of Oklahoma politics and a powerful legislative voice behind the scenes in Congress. The Associated Press announced the race less than an hour after polls closed as Mr. Cole led by a landslide.
Mr Cole took the helm of the influential Appropriations team in April, taking a coveted post on Capitol Hill that put him in charge of allocating federal spending. Top committee members can direct federal dollars not only across the government, but also to their own districts.
But as the GOP has veered to the right in recent years and become increasingly dogmatic about cutting federal spending, the appropriations sponge has turned into a political liability for Republicans. Mr Cole’s opponent Paul Bondard, a conservative anti-spending businessman, tried to weaponize the MP’s 15-year tenure on the committee against him. Mr. Bondar argued that Mr. Cole’s time on Capitol Hill had left him out of touch with his district and attacked his electoral record as insufficiently conservative.
“Tom Cole voted with the Democrats on billions in new deficit spending,” said a narrator in a TV ad. “Paul Bondar Opposes New Federal Spending”.
Early on, Mr. Bondar committed large sums of his personal fortune to the cause. With more than $8 million spent late last week, it became one of the most expensive House primaries this year — and the most competitive primary challenge Mr. Cole has faced in years.
“It’s like an old-fashioned bar fight,” Mr. Cole told Roll Call. “The guy who wins a bar fight is not the guy with the most money. he’s the guy with the most friends. And I have many friends in this area.”
Mr. Cole’s predecessor on the committee, Representative Kay Granger of Texas, also faced a well-funded primary challenge when she led the committee, and was also able to use her stature in the district to easily defeat her.
In the end, Mr. Cole’s status as a political veteran in the district, as well as Mr. Bondar’s own political weaknesses — including his recent move to the state from Texas — allowed him to prevail. An interview Mr. Bondar gave to a local television reporter, in which he confessed to making the call from Texas, was widely circulated in the region.
“He can’t find his way around the area without a map,” Mr. Cole said of his opponent in an interview earlier this month. “It’s not like I’m an unknown quantity. My family has lived in this neighborhood for 175 years on my mom’s side and 140 on my dad’s side.”
