Michelle Gray

April Michelle Harvey Gray,^[1] formerly Michelle Cunningham,^[2] known as Michelle Gray (born September 1976), is the manager of her husband's medical practice office in Melbourne in her native Izard County, Arkansas^[3] and a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for Independence, Izard, Sharp, and Stone counties in the northeastern portion of her state.^[4]

Background

Gray graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Arkansas State University at Jonesboro. She formerly worked in the accounting offices of both ASU and Ozarka College, a community college, in Melbourne.^[5] She and her husband, Dr. Adam Christopher Gray (born c. 1971), have five children. She is a Baptist. She is a former secretary and treasurer for the Izard County Emergency Services Board. She has also been the treasurer of the Single Parent Scholarship Foundation in Izard County.^[4][3]

Gray formerly resided in Walnut Ridge in Lawrence County, Arkansas, dates unavailable.^[1]

Political life

Gray ran without opposition in the Republican primary held on May 20, 2014, for the District 62 nomination to the state House. In the November 4 general election she unseated the two-term Democrat Tommy Wren, 5,130 votes (54.3 percent) to 4,319 (45.7 percent).^[6] Representative Gray holds these committee assignments: (1) Legislative Joint Audit (2) Judiciary Committee, and (3) State Agencies and Governmental Affairs.^[4]In February 2015, Gray joined dozens of her fellow Republicans and two Democrats in co-sponsoring legislation submitted by Representative Lane Jean of Magnolia, to reduce unemployment compensation benefits. The measure was promptly signed into law by Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson.^[7]

That same month Gray supported House Bill 1228, sponsored by Republican Bob Ballinger of Carroll County, which sought to prohibit government from imposing a burden on the free exercise of religion.^[8] The measure passed the House, seventy-two to twenty.^[9] One of the opponents, Democratic Representative Camille Bennett, a former city attorney for Lonoke, Arkansas, called for a reworking of the legislation.^[10] Bennett claimed the Ballinger bill would establish a "type of religious litmus test" which could impact nearly any law under consideration by the legislature.^[11] The measure was subsequently passed by a large margin in the House and signed into law in revised form, SB 975, by Governor Hutchinson.^[12]

Gray is a particular admirer of former Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee. "We have a lot of respect for her and what she does – and just the fight that she's willing to take on. She's not scared of anything. Her viewpoints and our viewpoints are a lot alike. ... She's a mom, she's a wife. She's me. I can see myself in her a lot," said Gray.^[13]

References