Career
In 1976, Lindsey filed for governor of Arkansas as a Democrat but lost in the primary election to incumbent David H. Pryor. He ran as a conservative and questioned a 20 percent increase in violent crime in Arkansas during 1975, Pryor"s first year in office. Lindsey was initially approached by Republicans about carrying their gubernatorial banner in the general election.
When Lindsey spurned the Grand Old Party recruitment, the party nominated an unknown plumber from Pine Bluff, Leon Griffith, to act as its placeholder nominee.
Lindsey joined the Grand Old Party several years later.
