Current chairman of the Finney County Commission and president of the Finney County Republicans, Clifford has previously served on other local government boards, including the Garden City Community College Board of Trustees, Garden City Airport Advisory Board and a committee vying for construction of a new high school in Garden City. He served in the military for 10 years, the last four as a fighter jet pilot in Germany.

Today he lives just outside Garden City with his wife, a veteran and member of the Kansas State Board of Education. They have six children, five of whom are adopted. Clifford is an ophthalmologist, or eye surgeon, at Fry Eye Associates in Garden City.

Clifford said the board of trustees taught him about governance and the county commission about being mindful with taxpayer dollars and working with the state and federal governments. Because of his public positions and work at Fry Eye, he has traveled to Washington, D.C., multiple times a year, sometimes in service of his patients and at other times in service of his constituents, he said.