By 1933, he had bought the partners out of the business and become sole owner of Edgar Pryor Inc, a well-known Chevrolet dealership in the area.

In 1966, Pryor was elected to Congress following a vacancy that year after U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed fellow Democrat Oren Harris to a federal judgeship.

Pryor entered the 1974 Democratic Gubernatorial Primary when Governor Dale Bumpers declined a third term to successfully challenge Senator J. William Fulbright.

Governor Bob C. Riley, then easily besting Arkansas Republican Party Executive Director Ken Coon in the General Election.

Navigating a difficult economy from the 1974–76 recession, Pryor appointed banker and future governor Frank D. White as his economic development director.

He declined a third term in order to seek McLellan's former seat in 1978 (the senator died in 1977) and faced two congressmen: Jim Guy Tucker and Ray Thornton in the Democratic Primary.

In June 2006, President George W. Bush nominated Pryor to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and in September of that year he was confirmed by the Senate for a six-year term.

As he had done occasionally in the past, Pryor taught a political science course at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville during the Fall 2008 term.

[5] Pryor briefly returned to politics, when he served as chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party following the assassination of Bill Gwatney.

During that time, she took various university courses and had trouble finding a job, and she eventually moved back into the governor's mansion after completing her rest.