Gary Richardson was born February 5, 1941, in Caddo, Oklahoma (located in Bryan County, Oklahoma) and is an American lawyer practicing in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Presently, he is a partner in the Richardson Law Firm, P.C.
Richardson attended college at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma, and graduated with a B.S. degree in education in 1963. He attended Oklahoma City University School of Law where he was distinguished with the honor of receiving top grades for First Year Law students. He also attended the South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas, and earned his J.D. in 1972.
Richardson served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma from 1981 to 1984 and was the Republican nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives in Oklahoma's Second Congressional District in 1978 and 1980, both times losing to Mike Synar. In 2002, Richardson ran for governor of Oklahoma as an Independent candidate. He came in third behind the Democratic candidate, Brad Henry, and the Republican candidate, former Congressman Steve Largent. Richardson's run for governor was notable as Henry's margin of victory over Largent was so small. Henry received 6866 votes more than Largent did; Richardson received a total of 146,200 votes (or 14 percent) of the 1,035,620 votes cast (see a table of this result at [1]).
| Candidates | Party | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brad Henry | Democratic Party | 448,143 | 43.27% | ||
| Steve Largent | Republican Party | 441,277 | 42.61% | ||
| Gary Richardson | Independent | 146,200 | 14.12% | ||
| Total | 1,035,620 | 100.0% | |||
| Source: 2002 Election Results | |||||