Jody Richards

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Jody Richards (born February 20, 1938) is a politician from Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Kentucky House Speaker Jody Richards, who began his career as a teacher at Western Kentucky University, first ran for office in 1975, when he won the 20th District seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives, a position he holds to this day. While still in his first term, Speaker Richards was called upon to chair the House’s Education Committee. He later played an instrumental part in engineering Kentucky’s sweeping education reforms by chairing one of the committees that helped draft the Kentucky Education Reform Act, and he has shown the same commitment in leadership roles in the Southern Legislative Conference’s Education Committee and the Legislative Advisory Council of the Southern Regional Education Board.

In 1987, Jody was chosen by his Democratic colleagues in the House to serve as their Majority Caucus Chairman, one of the body’s five leadership positions. And in 1995, Mr. Richards reached the culmination of his nearly two decades of legislative service and leadership by being chosen Speaker of the House.

Speaker Richards is the owner of Superior Books, Inc., a wholesale book sales and distribution company in Bowling Green, and is a long-time member of Greenwood Park Church of Christ. He has a son, Roger, a daughter-in-law, Ellen, and a granddaughter, Holly Beth. Jody and his wife, Neva, live in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

He will run for governor, with John Y. Brown III, former Kentucky Secretary of State, as his running mate.