Cole was elected to the Spotsylvania County, Virginia Board of Supervisors in 1999, where he served until 2002 when he took office in the Virginia House of Delegates. He is the chairman of the House Privileges and Elections Committee and is a member of the House Finance and Education Committees.
Positions
Cole describes himself as a fiscal and social conservative that supports individual rights while opposing tax increases. He opposed Republican initiatives to raise taxes in 2007 and 2013. Cole voted against Medicaid expansion, HB5001, in the 2018 legislative session. The bill passed 68-30 in the House of Delegates with bipartisan support.
Microchip implantation
Cole was criticized in February 2010 for comments made by him about his sponsorship of HB53, a bill in the House of Delegates which would ban involuntary implantation of microchips into humans by their employers: Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State said of this on MSNBC that "the sort of paranoid strain of thinking among these folks just—it advances to meet the new technology that we have." Despite MSNBC's crusade against Delegate Cole, calling him "Mark of the Beast Cole" his bill passed the House on a bi-partisan vote 88 to 9.
Bathroom bills
In 2016, Cole sponsored House Bill 663, a bathroom bill restricting public restroom use according to a person's "anatomical sex", defined as "the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a person's anatomy", with violators liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $50. HB663 was introduced on January 11, 2016 and died in committee in February 2016. It was widely reported that HB663 would require adults to inspect the genitals of children before they were allowed to enter the appropriate facilities, but this was dismissed by Snopes as a misleading interpretation of the bill's text, which states that administrators "shall develop and implement policies that require every restroom... that is designated for use by a specific gender to solely be used by individuals whose anatomical sex matches such gender designation." Cole sponsored House Bill 781 one day later on January 12, 2016, which used the same wording but substituted "biological sex" for "anatomical sex". The use of "biological sex" allowed for an update via amended birth certificate. HB781 also died in committee in February.
Voter registration
In 2017, Cole sponsored House Bill 1598, which would require those registering to vote after January 1, 2018 for state and local elections to provide proof of citizenship. HB1598 passed the House of Delegates on a 64-37 party line vote in February 2017.
Fornication laws
Cole voted against a bill to eliminate a law banning sexual intercourse before marriage in the 2020 legislative session. The bill passed 91-5 with bipartisan support in the house.
Committee Memberships
Cole is a member of the Education, Privileges and Elections, and General Laws Committees.
