Michael John Gray (born June 30, 1976) is a small business owner and the Woodruff County Judge from Augusta, Arkansas. He represented a rural area of the

Arkansas Delta The Arkansas Delta is one of the six natural regions of the state of Arkansas. Willard B. Gatewood Jr., author of ''The Arkansas Delta: Land of Paradox'', says that rich cotton lands of the Arkansas Delta make that area "The Deepest of the Deep ...

in the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...

from 2015 to 2017. Gray served as chair of the

Democratic Party of Arkansas The Democratic Party of Arkansas is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Arkansas. The current party chair is Grant Tennille. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton was born in Arkansas, and served as state governor from 1979 to 198 ...

from 2017 to 2021. He has been Woodruff County Judge since 2023.

Early life

Gray largely grew up in the Augusta School District, but graduated from

Searcy High School Searcy High School (SHS) is a comprehensive public high school serving the community of Searcy, Arkansas, United States. Located in White County, Searcy High School is the sole high school managed by the Searcy School District and serves stud ...

. He earned an

Associate in Arts An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree. ...

from Arkansas State University Beebe. He briefly attended the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

in Fayetteville and earned his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

with an emphasis on

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

from

Arkansas State University Arkansas State University (A-State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second-largest university in the st ...

in Jonesboro. Gray later earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

(J.D.) from the

University of Arkansas at Little Rock The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock, UALR) is a Public university, public research university in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, the ...

William H. Bowen School of Law.

Career

After graduation, Gray returned to Augusta to work on the

family farm A family farm is generally understood to be a farm owned and/or operated by a family. It is sometimes considered to be an Estate (land), estate passed down by inheritance. Although a recurring conceptual model, conceptual and archetype, archet ...

, known as Wakefield Partners, with his wife and mother. A third-generation family farm, the operation spans of cotton, corn, peanuts, rice, and wheat. The group was named the 2014 Woodruff County Farm Family of the Year, an honor previously bestowed on his parents in 1984. Gray won election to the Augusta City Council in 2010, and focused on budgeting and reducing municipal spending. In October 2013, Gray announced his candidacy for the

District 47 seat held by term-limited Democrat Jody Dickinson. His campaign announcement described a focus on rural issues, and his community involvement and collaborative work on the city council. Gray was unopposed in the Democratic primary and the general election, and was seated as a member of the

90th Arkansas General Assembly The Ninetieth Arkansas General Assembly was the legislative body of the state of Arkansas in 2015 and 2016. In this General Assembly, the Arkansas Senate and Arkansas House of Representatives were both controlled by the Arkansas Republican Party ...

. The House Democratic Caucus elected him Minority leader, Democrats held 35 of 100 seats in the House. He voted for Arkansas Works (

Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...

expansion in Arkansas) twice and was a vocal supporter of the measure. In March 2017, Gray won election to the unpaid position of Chair of the

. He replaced the retiring Vince Insalaco for the remainder of his four-year term, defeating Denise Garner by a 120–107 vote. Gray campaigned on a return of focus to economic and rural issues. He was re-elected to full term as Chair in 2018. Gray was narrowly defeated in his November 2018 re-election bid for the House District 47 seat by

Bald Knob Bald Knob is the highest summit of Back Allegheny Mountain in Pocahontas County, West Virginia and is part of Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. At an altitude of above sea level, Bald Knob is the third-highest point in West Virginia and the A ...

businessman and retired state bureaucrat

Craig Christiansen Craig may refer to: People and fictional characters *Craig (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters * Craig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Clan Craig, a Scottish clan Places United States ...

. In 2022, Gray ran as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

for Woodruff County

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

. He defeated Republican John Ball with 1,053 (50.72%) votes to Ball's 1,023 (49.28%), a difference of just 30 votes.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Michael John 1976 births 20th-century Methodists 21st-century members of the Arkansas General Assembly 21st-century Methodists American United Methodists Arkansas city council members Arkansas Democratic state chairmen Arkansas lawyers Arkansas State University alumni Businesspeople from Little Rock, Arkansas Farmers from Arkansas Lawyers from Little Rock, Arkansas Living people Members of the Arkansas House of Representatives People from Woodruff County, Arkansas Politicians from Little Rock, Arkansas William H. Bowen School of Law alumni