James Mountain "Jim" Inhofe (/ˈɪnhɒf/; born November 17, 1934) is the senior United States senator from Oklahoma and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1994, he was the ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and was its chairman from 2003 to 2007, then regained the chairmanship in January 2015.