Frank Riggs

Who is Frank Riggs?

Frank Duncan Riggs is a politician from the states of California and Arizona.

Riggs was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and he served in the United States Army from 1972 to 1975. Riggs worked as a police officer and in real estate. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican in 1990 from California's 1st District, narrowly defeating four-term Democrat Doug Bosco. He represented the area stretching from Napa County to the northern Pacific coast.

Riggs voted against the Gulf War resolution and, as a member of the Gang of Seven, a group of freshman Republican congressmen, favored identifying publicly the congressmen who made overdrafts at the House Bank. Riggs was defeated in 1992 by Democrat Dan Hamburg but won a rematch in 1994.

In 1996, Riggs won re-election. In 1998, State Senator Mike Thompson, who was due to be termed out of his seat, decided to run for the 1st District House seat, and Riggs decided not to run for re-election. Instead, he ran for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. A late entrant, he dropped out of the race before Election Day but still finished in fifth place in the state's open primary system. The nomination was won by State Treasurer Matt Fong. Thompson won the congressional seat handily and still holds it today.