Richard Mays

Richard Leon Mays Sr. (born August 5, 1943) is an American retired politician, judge, lawyer, and businessman from the U.S. state of Arkansas. Elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1972, he was one of the first three African Americans to serve in the Arkansas General Assembly since the Reconstruction era. Governor Bill Clinton appointed Mays to the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1980.

Early life and education Mays was born on August 5, 1943, in Little Rock, Arkansas, the younger son of Barnett George Mays and Dorothy Mae (Greenlee) Mays. His father owned and operated a restaurant and liquor store in North Little Rock. Richard Mays graduated from Horace Mann High School in 1961 and received his bachelor's degree from Howard University in 1965. He received his law degree in 1968 from the University of Arkansas School of Law, from which he was the first African American to graduate in over a decade.

Political and judicial career In 1972, Mays ran for a heavily Democratic seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, losing the primary election to Arkansas Attorney General Ray Thornton. The same year, Mays ran for a Black-majority seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives, won the election, and served from 1973 to 1977. He co-founded the law firm of Mays, Byrd & Associates. In December 1979, Governor Bill Clinton appointed Mays to the Arkansas Supreme Court to fill out the unexpired term of Justice Conley Byrd, who retired due to ill health. Mays served on the bench until January 1981. He worked full-time for Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and co-chaired the Clinton-Gore presidential inauguration committee, raising more than $1 million. He also worked as a lobbyist and business consultant, facilitating a CMS Energy contract to build a power plant in Ghana.