U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton will be the keynote speaker for the Republican Party of Garland County Lincoln Reagan Freedom Fundraiser on Sept. 24, the RPGC announced last week.
Proceeds raised from the event will be used to support the campaigns of local and state Republican candidates, a news release said.
State Rep. Les Warren, R-District 25, is the RPGC event committee chairman, and Matt McKee, RPGC chairman, Linda Beber, Ray Lehman, Jim Keary, RPGC secretary, Linda Lambert, GCRW president, and Sharon Turrentine, with the Republican Women, serve on the committee.
"Sen. Cotton, who served as an Army infantry officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been in the news recently because of his criticism of the Biden administration's evacuation of Americans and allies from Afghanistan. As a result he and his staff have been working to gain freedom for American citizens and allies who were attempting to escape from Afghanistan," the release said.
Cotton set up a telephone number and email address in his Senate office for people stranded to call so that he could help them get to safety. A Cotton spokesman said they have been working with thousands of people, including hundreds of Americans, to evacuate them from Afghanistan.
"President Biden's ill-planned, chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has stranded thousands of American citizens behind enemy lines, turning them in effect into hostages of the Taliban," Cotton said on Aug. 19. "Instead of ordering rescue missions to save people, as our allies have done, the Biden administration is relying on the Taliban's good graces to ensure the safety of our citizens."
Cotton served in Afghanistan's Laghman Province as an operations officer from October 2008 to July 2009.
He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Arkansas' 4th Congressional District in 2011 and to the Senate at the age of 37 in 2014, defeating two-term Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor.
Cotton serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he is the ranking member for the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism, the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee, where he serves as the ranking member of the Air Land Power Subcommittee.
According to a biography provided by the RPGC, Cotton grew up on his family's cattle farm in Yell County and graduated from Dardanelle High, Harvard and Harvard Law School. After a clerkship with the U.S. Court of Appeals and private practice, he left his law practice and joined the military in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C., New York and Pennsylvania.
He served nearly five years on active duty in the U.S. Army as an infantry officer, and served in Iraq with the 101st Airborne and in Afghanistan with a Provincial Reconstruction Team. Between his two combat tours, he served with The Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery, it said.
He received military honors including the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantry Badge and Ranger Badge.
The event includes dinner at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa, plus a special reception with Cotton sponsored by the Garland County Republican Women. Tickets for the dinner are $100 each and $150 each for the dinner and reception.
Tickets may be ordered online at TheRPGC.org and Eventbrite.com or by calling Keary at 501-786-9206. Sponsorships for the event are also available, the release said.