Colton hails from Mount Carmel, Tennessee, and is a recent graduate of the Department of Politics at Princeton University, where he also earned certificates in American Studies and History and the Practice of Diplomacy. In 2023, Colton interned at the Tennessee Justice Center, supported by the Pace Center’s Princeton Internships in Civic Service (PICS) program, where he worked directly with poor and working clients to help them gain access to Medicaid coverage. Prior to that, Colton spent his gap year in 2021 working as a Legislative Correspondent for U.S. Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger, where he managed the environmental policy portfolio and worked on various others including health and labor policy. He was also a 2020 John C. Bogle Fellow and worked as an Intern Coordinator for a U.S. House campaign, promoting youth engagement in the electoral process. Colton spent fall 2022 studying European politics at University College London. His research experience includes his Junior Paper, “Working-Class Representation in Congress,” which analyzed the consequences of working-class underrepresentation in Congress, and his senior thesis, which focused on the barriers that disproportionately prevent workers from running for office. At Princeton, Colton was a Head Fellow for the Scholars Institute Fellows Program. He also served as a Community Living Advisor for Rockefeller College and Member of the Department of Politics Undergraduate Committee.