David Pryor

David Hampton Pryor
United States Senator for Arkansas
In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Kaneaster Hodges, Jr. (interim for John McClellan)
Secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference
In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995
Leader	George J. Mitchell (Maine)
Preceded by	Daniel Inouye (Hawaii)
Succeeded by	Barbara Mikulski (Maryland)
Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee
In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	John Melcher (Montana)
Succeeded by	William Cohen
Governor of Arkansas
In office January 14, 1975 – January 3, 1979
Preceded by	Bob Cowley Riley (acting)
Succeeded by	Joe Purcell (acting)
United States Representative for Arkansas' 4th congressional district
In office November 8, 1966 – January 3, 1973
Preceded by	Oren Harris
Succeeded by	Ray Thornton
Arkansas State Representative for Ouachita County
In office January 9, 1961 – November 8, 1966
Preceded by	William S. Andrews
Succeeded by	None (Redistricting)
Chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party
In office September 5, 2008 – January 28, 2009
Preceded by	Bill Gwatney
Succeeded by	Todd Turner
Born	August 29, 1934 (age 86) Camden, Arkansas
Spouse(s)	Barbara Lunsford
Children	Mark Pryor
Alma mater	Henderson State University (BA) (Arkadelphia, Arkansas) University of Arkansas School of Law (Fayetteville) (LLB)
Religion	Presbyterian

David Hampton Pryor (born August 29, 1934) is a retired Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Arkansas. He held numerous state and federal positions.

Pryor is a native of Camden in Ouachita County in south Arkansas, and a lawyer who graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He served prior to 1966 as a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives in which he became a specialist in problems of the aging. From 1966 to 1973, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives for Arkansas' 4th congressional district. He ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in the 1972 Democratic primary, having been defeated by the long-term incumbent John McClellan, who was more conservative than Pryor and strongly backed by the Camden publisher Walter E. Hussman, Sr.

In 1974, Pryor defeated former Governor Orval E. Faubus for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and then handily beat the Republican Ken Coon in the general election for the right to succeed Governor Dale Bumpers, who became U. S. senator after defeating J. William Fulbright in the Democratic primary. After four years as governor, Pryor was succeeded by Bill Clinton. In 1978, Pryor was handily elected to the U.S. Senate and reelected in 1984 and 1990. He declined to run again in 1996 and was succeeded by the Republican Tim Hutchinson, then a U.S. representative. In 2002, Hutchinson was unseated after a single term by Pryor's son, Mark Pryor, who still holds the seat.^[1]

From September 2008 to February 2009, Pryor was chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party. He resides in the capital city of Little Rock.