Massachusetts Republican Party hosts Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton for a fundraiser

Senator Tom Cotton (center) is pictured next to Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons (right) at an event in Boston Thursday night.Massachusetts Republican Party

Republican Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton visited Boston for a fundraiser Thursday night, according to a statement from the MassGOP.

Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons welcomed the Republican senator to the event at Alma Gaúcha restaurant in the Seaport and called it “a success on all levels,” according to the statement and a copy of the invitation obtained by the Globe.

“Sen. Cotton has been front-and-center on the issues Republicans care deeply about, such as election integrity, reopening our economy, legal immigration, free speech, and reestablishing a culture of life,” Lyons said in the statement. “He’s the kind of no-nonsense Republican that our party is proud to have in our corner fighting for us.”

Those who attended wore masks except for when taking photos next to Cotton at the event, according to the statement, which included a photo of Lyons and Cotton standing next to each other, both men not wearing masks.

“Lyons said attendees donned masks when not posing for photos with Sen. Cotton and added that those who experienced the event came away with a positive jolt of energy,” the statement said.

“The money raised by events like last night’s will go towards recruiting and running more quality Republicans in state legislative races so we can beat back the far-left socialist ideology infecting Beacon Hill,” the statement said. “We can’t thank Sen. Cotton enough for taking some time out of his busy schedule to come and speak to a group of enthusiastic Massachusetts Republicans.”

Cotton graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, according to his Senate biography.

Last February, Cotton appeared on Fox News and promoted the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus was created in a lab by the Chinese government. He also came under fire last June for writing an opinion piece titled “Send in the Troops” in The New York Times in which he argued the United States should deploy troops to counter Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody. In the days after the op-ed was published, The Times added an editors note to the piece saying it “fell short of our standards and should not have been published” and its editorial page editor resigned.