Richards presented various training sessions throughout the state on campaign techniques for women candidates and managers. Richard had also supported ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In 1976, Richards ran against and defeated the Travis County, Texas Commissioners' Court; she took 81.4 percent of the vote against opponent Laurel Freeman to win re-election in 1980. During this time, in part because of the strain of politics on the relationship; her marriage had come to an end. Richards' had a drinking problem and it had become more distinct. She sought and completed treatment for alcoholism in 1980.
In 1988 Richards delivered her speech known as 1988 DNC Keynote Addresses. When Richard address to this it had put her in the national spotlight. The speech was highly critical of the Reagan Administration and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. This speech set the tone for her political