Winston Bryant is a former Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 Secretary of State

Secretary of State (U.S. state government)

Secretary of State is an official in the state governments of 47 of the 50 states of the United States, as well as Puerto Rico and other U.S. possessions. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, this official is called the Secretary of the Commonwealth...

 (1977-1978), the tenth Lieutenant Governor

Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas

The Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas presides over the Arkansas Senate with a tie-breaking vote, serves as governor when the governor is out of state, and serves as governor if the governor is impeached, removed from office, dies or is otherwise unable to discharge the office's duties.The position...

 (1981-1991) and attorney general

Arkansas Attorney General

The Arkansas Attorney General is an executive position and constitutional officer within the Arkansas government. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement/legal officer and lawyer for Arkansas. The position is elected every four years, e.g...

 (1991-1999) of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

.

He was born in Malvern

Malvern, Arkansas

Malvern is the county seat of Hot Spring County, Arkansas. The city had a population of 10,318 at the time of the 2010 census and is also called the "Brick Capital of the World" because of the three Acme Brick plants in the area...

, the seat of Hot Spring County. He is married to the former Susan Hughes and has one son, John Bryant.

In 1960, Bryant graduated from Ouachita Baptist University

Ouachita Baptist University

Ouachita Baptist University is a private, liberal arts, undergraduate institution located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, which is about 65 miles southwest of Little Rock. The university's name is taken from the Ouachita River, which forms the eastern campus boundary. It is affiliated with the Arkansas...

 in Arkadelphia

Arkadelphia, Arkansas

Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,548. The city is the county seat of Clark County. The city is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson State...

. He graduated in 1963 from University of Arkansas School of Law

University of Arkansas School of Law

The University of Arkansas School of Law is the law school of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a state university. It has around 445 students enrolled in its Juris Doctor and Master of Law programs and is home to the federally-funded National Agricultural Law Center and the...

 in Fayetteville

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...

. He received a Master of Laws

Master of Laws

The Master of Laws is an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree, and is commonly abbreviated LL.M. from its Latin name, Legum Magister. The University of Oxford names its taught masters of laws B.C.L...

 (Administrative Law) from George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 in 1970. He was a legislative assistant to the late U.S. Senator John L. McClellan from 1968-1971. Thereafter, he was a prosecuting attorney in his native Hot Spring County and a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives

Arkansas House of Representatives

The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the state. Each district has an average population of 26,734...

 from 1973-1977. Elected Secretary of State in 1976, he vacated the office after one term, describing it as "a glorified janitor's job." He unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas' Fourth District on 1978 which was being vacated by Ray Thornton, who ran for the U.S. Senate. Bryant led the five-man primary, but lost in a runoff to Union County Prosecuting Attorney Beryl Anthony, Jr. He was Elected Lieutenant Governor in 1980 and served one term under Republican Governor Frank White and three terms under Democrat Bill Clinton before being elected Attorney General in 1990. He won a close race for the post over future Congressman and Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson, and was reelected in 1994 over State Representative (and future U.S. Senator) Mark Pryor.

While serving as Attorney General, Bryant waged two separate campaigns for the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

. In 1996, he ran for the seat being vacated by Senator David Pryor

David Pryor

David Hampton Pryor is a former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senator from the State of Arkansas. Pryor also served as 39th Governor of Arkansas from 1975 to 1979 and was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1960 to 1966...

. He received the Democratic nomination, but lost in a close race to Republican Congressman Tim Hutchinson

Tim Hutchinson

Young Timothy Hutchinson, known as Tim Hutchinson is a Republican politician and former senator from the state of Arkansas.Hutchinson was born in Bentonville, Arkansas, and he graduated from Bob Jones University...

. When Arkansas's other senator, Dale Bumpers

Dale Bumpers

Dale Leon Bumpers is an American politician who served as the 38th Governor of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975; and then in the United States Senate from 1975 until his retirement in January 1999. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Senator Bumpers is currently counsel at the Washington, D.C...

, retired before the 1998 election, Bryant once again ran in the Democratic primary

Primary election

A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

. He placed second in the initial balloting, and lost the run-off to former Representative Blanche Lincoln

Blanche Lincoln

Blanche Meyers Lambert Lincoln is a former U.S. Senator from Arkansas and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected to the Senate in 1998, she was the first woman elected to the Senate from Arkansas since Hattie Caraway in 1932 and, at age 38, was the youngest woman ever elected to the...

 who went on to defeat Republican state Senator Fay Boozman

Fay Boozman

Fay W. Boozman was a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Arkansas, a close friend of former Governor Mike Huckabee and a brother of U.S...

 in the general election

General election

In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

.After his defeat by Lincoln, he finished his term as Attorney General and retired to his law practice in Malvern.

Career chronology

• U.S. Army, rank of Captain (1963–65)
• Arkansas Insurance Commission Attorney (1966)
• Assistant U. S. Attorney Eastern District of Arkansas (1967)
• Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator John L. McClellan in Washington, D. C. (1968–1971)
• Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Hot Spring County, Arkansas (1971–72)
• State Representative Hot Spring County (1973–77)
• Arkansas Secretary of State (1977–78)
• Member of the Arkansas Constitutional Convention from Hot Spring County (1979)
• Arkansas Lt. Governor (1981–90)
• Arkansas Attorney General (1991–99)