LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Former Arkansas governor and U.S. Sen. David Pryor will lead the state Democratic Party through the end of the year after the shooting death of Chairman Bill Gwatney.

The announcement Friday by the party, still reeling from the unexplained August killing, comes as what could be a tight presidential election looms ahead. Pryor acknowledged Democrats would be “a little bit challenged” by former Republican colleague John McCain in a state won by President Bush in 2000 and 2004.

However, Pryor said a visit to the state by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama could prove to be the difference.

“It sure would help if Sen. Obama would come here and hopefully, that is our dream. I don’t know what his schedule is for the fall,” Pryor told reporters. “I can tell you this: We will be on his trail to come to Arkansas. We’re just hopeful he would come and it would surely add to the enthusiasm for his campaign.”

Obama, D-Ill., last visited Arkansas in 2006 to help campaign for Gov. Mike Beebe. His campaign has yet to open a general election office in the state.

Members of the state party’s executive committee said they would follow tradition and allow Beebe, a Democrat, to recommend a new chairman after Gwatney’s death. Beebe said he called Pryor a few days before leaving for the Democratic National Convention in Denver to ask him to fill the position.

“I think his reaction was one of surprise—I don’t think he had ever thought about it,” the governor told reporters. “But he didn’t say no and I asked him not to say no or yes, just to think about it.”

Beebe admitted he thought Pryor might be too busy to take over the role. Pryor, 74, serves as a board member for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, recently wrote a memoir and teaches a weekly political science course for honor students at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

But Pryor, who spent four years at the governor’s mansion, 18 years in the U.S. Senate and has a son serving there now, said he felt he “could not say no to Gov. Beebe’s call to arms.”

“All of my life, this Democratic Party has served me, it has served my family and now I feel like this is the least I can do—to try to serve it to the best of my abilities,” he said.

Under party rules, the party’s vice chairman must call a meeting of the party’s state committee within 60 days of a vacancy of the chairmanship. The party has not yet called that meeting or formally voted to endorse Pryor for the position, though it will more than likely be approved.

Beebe’s selection of Pryor will return a sense of calm to a party shattered by the apparently random Aug. 13 shooting of Gwatney at the party headquarters. The gunman, Timothy Dale Johnson, was shot dead by police after leading them on a 30-mile chase. Police continue to investigate the slaying.

Pryor faces a challenge in swinging the state toward Obama. Former state first lady Hillary Clinton trounced Obama in Arkansas primary, carrying 70 percent of the vote in the Super Tuesday primary. Obama received 26.5 percent of the vote.

A March poll by the University of Central Arkansas showed McCain leading in the state in a matchup against Obama, with 43 percent saying they would support him and 27 percent supporting Obama. The poll showed 26 percent of likely voters were undecided at the time.