R. Clayton 'Clay' Mitchell Jr. (April 16, 1936 – June 13, 2019) was an American politician and the Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates in the United States.

Background

Mitchell was born in Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore in 1936. He served in the United States Army before entering public service in the 1966 elections.

Political career

In 1962, Mitchell won a seat on the Democratic Central Committee in Kent County. In the 1966 elections, Mitchell won a seat on the Kent County Board of Commissioners. He was President of the Board of County Commissioners for 4 years. Four years later (1970), he won election to the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 36, which spreads across the northern Eastern Shore between the Delaware state line and the Chesapeake Bay. He became chair of the Eastern Shore delegation in 1974, and a decade later took over as chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee. In 1987, after the election of the previous

Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates The Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates presides as speaker over the House of Delegates in the state of Maryland in the United States. List of speakers Footnotes References Maryland State Archives - House of Delegates Records ...

Benjamin L. Cardin Benjamin Louis Cardin (born October 5, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maryland, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representativ ...

, to Congress, Mitchell was elected by his colleagues to serve as Speaker. He held the position until his retirement in 1994.

Retirement

After retiring from the House of Delegates, Mitchell continued to be actively involved in his community. He chaired both the Save Our Skipjacks Task Force and the Maryland Commission for Celebration 2000. In addition, he was a Director of the Second National Bank of Maryland and a member of the Board of Visitors and Governors of Washington College. Mitchell died on June 13, 2019.

Legacy

In 2008, the R. Clayton Mitchell Jr. Kent County Government Center in Chestertown was dedicated to Mitchell. In 2018, the

Kent Narrows Bridge The Kent Narrows, also known as Kent Island Narrows and to local residents simply as the Narrows, is a waterway that connects the Chester River with the Eastern Bay and also separates Kent Island from the Delmarva Peninsula. It runs through the c ...

on US 50/ US 301 was also dedicated in his name. In October, 2019, the Comptroller of Maryland established the R. Clayton Mitchell Award for Distinguished Public Service to recognize officials at all levels of government for exceptional public service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, R. Clayton Jr. 1936 births 2019 deaths People from Chestertown, Maryland Military personnel from Maryland Businesspeople from Maryland County commissioners in Maryland Speakers of the Maryland House of Delegates Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American legislators 20th-century Maryland politicians