Frances Jones Mills was a state official in Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 for a large portion of the 1970s and 1980s.

Mills was born in Gray, Kentucky. Mills was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives

Kentucky House of Representatives

The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a House district, except when necessary to preserve...

 from Knox County, Kentucky

Knox County, Kentucky

Knox County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 31,795. Its county seat is Barbourville. The county is named for General Henry Knox...

 in 1961 as a Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

, serving one term from a heavily Republican district. She then worked as an aide to the Speaker of the House. Mills was an unsuccessful candidate for the U. S. House of Representatives in 1964, winning the Democratic nomination but losing the general election despite the nationwide Democratic landslide as Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

 retained the presidency by a huge margin over Barry Goldwater

Barry Goldwater

Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...

.

In 1971 Mills was elected Clerk of the Kentucky Court of Appeals

Kentucky Court of Appeals

The Kentucky Court of Appeals is the lower of Kentucky's two appellate courts, under the Kentucky Supreme Court. Prior to a 1975 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky....

, which at the time was an elective office.