Michael John Gray


Michael John Gray is a farmer with a law degree in Augusta in Woodruff County, Arkansas, who is a Democratic departing state representative for District 47, which includes portions of Independence, Jackson, White and his own Woodruff counties in the eastern portion of his state. He was elected in March 2017 as the state Democratic Party chairman. On November 6, 2018, he was narrowly defeated in his bid for a third legislative term by Republican Craig Christiansen, 3,643 votes to 3,545.

Background

Gray holds both an Associate of Arts from Arkansas State University at Beebe and Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. He obtained a Juris Doctorate from the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University in Arkansas at Little Rock. He is the owner of Wakefield Partners in Augusta. Gray is affiliated with the Augusta and McCrory Chambers of Commerce and the Woodruff County Farm Bureau. He is a founding member and the secretary of the Arkansas Peanut Growers Association. Gray is a member of the First United Methodist Church in Augusta. He and his wife, Amy, have one son, who was born in October 2014.

Political life

Gray is a former member of the Augusta City Council, to which he was elected in 2010 and served two terms. In 2014, he was elected in House District 47 to succeed the term-limited Democrat Jody Dickinson. He was unopposed in both the Democratic primary, and the general election. He was defeated in the November, 2018 general election by Republican Craig Christiansen.
Representative Gray held these committee assignments in his first term : Vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology, City, County and Local Affairs, and Education. The House Education chairman appointed him to Academic Facilities Oversight Committee. In 2015, he was elected vice chairman of the freshman class.
In September 2015, Representative Gray was elected by his House Democratic colleagues as the chairman of their caucus, a position he held until June 2017, when David Whitaker was named to succeed him.
In March 2017, the Democratic State Central Committee named Gray as the state party chairman.