He then furthered his education by attending graduate school at Southwest Missouri State College, receiving his Master of Arts in 1971.

[4] In 2002, Richard ran to replace the outgoing Chuck Surface, in the first session where term limits were enacted in 1992 and starting in 1994 fully affected all prior members.

Richard won a primary battle with fellow Republican Edward Duff, garnering over 75% of the vote.

He then won the general election in a three-way race with Democrat Fred Coombes and Libertarian Jack Stults, earning nearly 69% of the vote.

Despite successful passage through the General Assembly and approval by Governor Matt Blunt, Bombardier decided not to relocate.

In September 2007, the House Republican caucus chose to meet and choose a successor to then-Speaker Rod Jetton for the 95th General Assembly.

In a caucus meeting, Richard beat out fellow Republican and Budget Committee chair Allen Icet to be preliminarily named Speaker of the 95th General Assembly.