William Thad Cochran (born December 7, 1937) is a Mississippi Republican U.S. Senator.
He was born in Pontotoc, Mississippi to William Holmes Cochran and Emma Grace Cochran, a school principal and a teacher, respectively. His family settled in Hinds County, Mississippi in 1946 after a few moves around the northern part of the state.
Cochran graduated from Byram High School near Jackson, Mississippi and received a B.A. degree from the University of Mississippi with a major in psychology and a minor in political science in 1959. After a time in the United States Navy (1959-1961), he attended the University of Mississippi School of Law and graduated in 1965. He then practiced law for seven years. He was elected three times to the United States House of Representatives (1972, 1974, 1976) and then was elected to the United States Senate in 1978, succeeding James Eastland. The senior Senator from Mississippi, Cochran is currently Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He was reelected in 1984, 1990, 1996, and with almost no opposition to his fifth term in 2002. He served as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, 1991-1996.
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|- style="text-align: center;"
| width="30%" |Preceded by:
James Eastland
| width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Mississippi
1979-
| width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Incumbent
