Editing David Pryor (section)

==Political career==
Pryor first won elected office representing Ouachita County in the [[Arkansas House of Representatives]] in 1960. Seated as a member of the [[63rd Arkansas General Assembly]], Pryor would win reelection to the seat in 1962 and 1964.

In 1966, Pryor was elected to Congress following a vacancy that year after [[U.S. President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] appointed fellow Democrat [[Oren Harris]] to a federal judgeship. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1972, instead challenging longtime U.S. Senator [[John L. McLellan]] in the Democratic Primary. Pryor lost to McLellan in a runoff by less than 20,000 votes.

Pryor entered the 1974 Democratic Gubernatorial Primary when Governor [[Dale Bumpers]] declined a third term to successfully challenge Senator [[J. William Fulbright]]. Pryor narrowly avoided a runoff in the primary, defeating former governor [[Orval Faubus]] and Lt. Governor [[Bob C. Riley]], then easily besting Arkansas Republican Party Executive Director [[Ken Coon]] in the General Election. Pryor was reelected in 1976, gaining 66 percent of the vote in the Democratic Primary against former Razorback football great [[Jim Lindsey]], and 86 percent in November against a token Republican.   He served as Governor of Arkansas from January 14, 1975 to January 3, 1979. Navigating a difficult economy from the 1974–76 recession, Pryor appointed banker and future governor [[Frank D. White]] as his economic development director.

He declined a third term in order to seek McLellan's former seat in 1978 (the senator died in 1977) and faced two congressmen: [[Jim Guy Tucker]] and [[Ray Thornton]] in the Democratic Primary. Pryor advanced to a runoff with Tucker, and defeated the central Arkansas congressman by 12 points. He defeated a Republican and Independent opponents in the General Election with 76 percent of the vote.

In 1984, in spite of the [[Ronald Reagan]] landslide, Pryor defeated central Arkansas Congressman [[Ed Bethune]] in a race dominated by national GOP money backing Bethune. In 1990, Pryor defeated a write-in candidate; no other Democrat or Republican filed. He retired in 1996 and was replaced by Republican congressman [[Tim Hutchinson]].

[[File:David Pryor (AR).png|150px|thumb|left|Pryor as governor.]]

===U.S. Senate===
Pryor served as chairman of the [[U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging|Committee on Aging]]. Pryor was known for his advocacy for the aged and for promoting taxpayer rights. During his tenure, he was secretary of the Democratic Conference, third in the Senate Democratic Leadership.

In 2000 Pryor became Director of the Institute of Politics at [[Harvard Kennedy School]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]. He served as [[Dean (education)|dean]] of the [[Clinton School of Public Service]] in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] from 2004 to 2006. In June 2006, President [[George W. Bush]] nominated Pryor to the board of the [[Corporation for Public Broadcasting]], and in September of that year he was confirmed by the Senate for a six-year term. As he had done occasionally in the past, Pryor taught a [[political science]] course at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville during the Fall 2008 term.