Mark Pryor

Mark Lunsford Pryor (born January 10, 1963) is an American attorney, politician and lobbyist who served as a United States Senator from Arkansas from 2003 to 2015.

He attended Little Rock Central High School until his father was elected to the United States Senate in 1979, after which he attended Walt Whitman High School in Maryland until graduating in 1981.

He graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and went on to receive his Juris Doctor from the university's law school in 1988.

During college, he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Prior to entering politics, Pryor worked as a private practice attorney focusing on civil litigation.

He worked in private practice for several years until being elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1990.

He was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1991 to 1995.

In 1994, he ran for Arkansas Attorney General, challenging incumbent Winston Bryant in the Democratic primary.

Pryor lost 58%-42%.

He was elected the state attorney general in 1998.

In 1998, he ran for the same position again and became the Democratic Party nominee.

He defeated Republican nominee Betty Dicky, the Redfield City Attorney, 59%-41%.

He won all but four counties in the state: Benton, Boone, Marion, and Baxter.

He previously served as Attorney General of Arkansas from 1999 to 2003 and in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1991 to 1995.

He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Pryor is the son of former Arkansas Governor and U.S. Senator David Pryor.

He received his bachelor's degree University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and his J.D. degree from its law school.

He was also delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2000.

Pryor was recognized for providing a high level of constituent service, and he helped to secure millions of dollars in highway funds for the state.

Pryor was also a committed advocate of the state’s military families; he guided the SACRIFICE Act to passage, thus providing families of those injured in combat more timely and reliable medical care.

Pryor announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2001, running for the same Senate seat his father had held from 1979 to 1997.

He was elected with 54% of the vote, defeating Republican incumbent Tim Hutchinson.

In late 2001, Pryor announced his candidacy for the Senate seat held by Tim Hutchinson, who six years earlier had become the first Arkansas Republican to serve in that body since Reconstruction.

The seat had been held by his father David Pryor (also a former Arkansas governor), who actively campaigned for his son.

Pryor defeated Hutchinson 54% to 46% and was the only Democratic candidate for the Senate to defeat a Republican incumbent in that election cycle.

He was reelected with no Republican opposition in 2008.

Pryor won reelection in 2008 without a Republican opponent.

There had been speculation that former Governor Mike Huckabee would run against Pryor if his presidential bid was unsuccessful, but on March 8, Huckabee said he would not contest the race.

The only Republican to express interest in the race, health care executive Tom Formicola, decided not to run.

Pryor's only announced opponent was Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy, whom he defeated 80% to 20%.

This was the worst performance in the nation for any incumbent Senator since the defeat of then-fellow Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln in 2010.

During the 112th Congress he served as the chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance.

Pryor ran for reelection in 2014, but was defeated by Republican Tom Cotton.

Pryor ran for reelection to a third term in 2014, against Republican U.S. House Rep. Tom Cotton.

In March 2014, during an MSNBC news segment regarding the Senate race, Pryor said that Cotton gave off a "sense of entitlement" to a seat in the Senate due to his service in the military.

After receiving much criticism for the remark, Pryor later said he was not attacking Cotton’s military service, but his perceived lack of accomplishments in the House: "But the point remains that he's been in the House now for a little over a year, he hasn't passed any legislation. There's not one thing he's done for Arkansas."

FactCheck.org called two ads aired by Pryor's 2014 Senate campaign misleading in their criticisms of Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, supported by his opponent.

This race was originally thought out to be close, but Pryor lost in a landslide, with 39% of the vote to Cotton's 57%.

In 2020, Pryor was hired as a lobbyist by Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

Pryor was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to the future state First Lady Barbara Jean (Lunsford) and future Governor and U.S. Senator David Hampton Pryor, then a state representative.