Former Democrat Governor of Arkansas Dead at 89

There are not too many Clinton family “friends” who meet their demise “naturally,” or so the conspiracy theorists of our country would have us believe.

While I am not a conspiracy theorist, even I have to admit that some of the deaths that have occurred have been relatively timely for the Clintons and Democrats in general.

That, however, was not the case for David Pryor, who passed away on April 20, 2024, at the age of 89.

He’s Gone

Pryor is a native Arkansian, born in 1934 in Camden, AR.

Pryor’s father started out as a car salesman in 1923, eventually owning his own dealership. This allowed him to send his son, David, to college and eventually law school.

David Pryor first entered public office in 1960, winning a state legislature seat to represent Ouachita County. He won re-election in the 1962 and 1964 elections, moving on to Congress in 1966 after Oren Harris was appointed to the bench by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Pryor served in Congress until 1973 when he decided to run for governor in the 1974 election cycle.

He served one term, leaving office in 1979, and immediately took a seat in the Senate, serving there until 1997.

In September 2008, he returned to politics to serve as the Chair of the Arkansas Democrat Party, leaving that position several months later in January 2009. This was an interim position to fill the seat vacated when Bill Gwatney was murdered.

Pryor is, as we might expect, connected to the Clintons, having served on the board of the Clinton Foundation in 2004.

When Pryor’s death was announced, Bill Clinton offered his tribute, stating, “David made politics personal—from his famed retail campaigning to his ability to calmly and confidently explain tough votes to his constituents.

“He was honest, compassionate, and full of common sense. He really loved the people he represented, and they loved him back.”

Clinton also called Pryor “one of Arkansas’ greatest servant leaders and one of the finest people I have ever known.”

Current Governor Sarah Sanders added, “His career defied easy definition: a man with deep roots in Ouachita County who reached the heights of influence in Washington; a Solid South Democrat who stood strong against the Faubus machine; the architect of an Arkansas political dynasty who was just as comfortable in a Camden lumber yard as the Cambridge quad.”

While his cause of death was not immediately announced, his family did state that he died at home in Little Rock, AR, surrounded by family.