Randy Wiggins

Randy E. Wiggins
Louisiana State Representative from District 27 (northern Rapides Parish)
In office
1996–2000
Preceded by Rick L. Farrar
Succeeded by Rick L. Farrar
Personal details
Born February 13, 1951
Louisiana, USA
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Kathy Daniels Wiggins
Children 3
Residence Pineville, Louisiana, Rapides Parish, Louisiana
Alma mater Buckeye High School

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Occupation Insurance agent
Religion Baptist
(1) Wiggins was succeeded in his Louisiana House seat in 2000 by the man he defeated in 1995, Democrat Rick L. Farrar of Pineville, but Farrar did not unseat Wiggins in the 1999 primary. Instead Wiggins ran unsuccessfully for the open seat in the state senate and lost to former Senator Joe McPherson, who waged a closely fought comeback bid.

(2) Wiggins is a State Farm Insurance Chartered Life Underwriter in Alexandria but resides in Pineville.

Randy E. Wiggins (born February 13, 1951) is a State Farm Insurance agent in Alexandria, Louisiana,[1] who is the first Republican since Reconstruction to have been elected from Rapides Parish to the Louisiana House of Representatives.[2] Wiggins served only a single term in the Pineville-based District 27 from 1996 to 2000.[2] In 1999, he failed in a state senate race against former Senator Joe McPherson, a businessman then of Pineville and later of Woodworth in southern Rapides Parish.[3]

The late Jock Scott, a professor and lawyer, served as a Republican in the Alexandria-based House District 26 from 1985 to 1988, but he was elected in 1983 to his third term as a Democrat.

On October 6, 1995, Wiggins won the District 27 seat when as the only opposing candidate he upset the incumbent Democrat Rick L. Farrar of Pineville, 6,350 votes (51.1 percent) to 6,077 (48.9 percent).[4]

In the House, Wiggins served on the Joint House and Senate Health and Welfare Committee and in 1997 participated in a legislative tour of health-care facilities in Rapides and neighboring Avoyelles Parish, including St. Mary's Training School in Alexandria, Avoyelles Hospital in Marksville, and Bunkie General Hospital in Bunkie. Wiggins said the purpose of the tour is to allow lawmakers a better understanding of health-care issues and budget considerations.[5]

Wiggins ran for the state Senate when B.G. Dyess, an Alexandria Baptist minister and former Rapides Parish registrar of voters, declined to seek a second term, having served only from 1996 to 2000. In the primary held on October 23, 1999, McPherson prevailed, 13,820 (50.4 percent) to Wiggins's 12,393 (45.2 percent), and another 1,212 votes (4.4 percent) for Democrat Jerry M. Guillory.[3]

Wiggins is married to the former Kathy Daniels. He graduated in 1969 from Buckeye High School in Deville in eastern Rapides Parish. He subsequently graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He is Baptist. He is affiliated with Kiwanis International in Pineville.[6] His insurance office, established in 1982, is located at 2146 North Mall Drive near the Alexandria Mall.[7]

Wiggins is a contributor to such Republican candidates as U.S. Representative Rodney Alexander, U.S. Senator David Vitter, and the 2002 Republican senatorial nominee Suzanne Haik Terrell of New Orleans, defeated by the Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu.[8] In 1998, he contributed to current Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon in Donelon’s unsuccessful Republican challenge to U.S. Senator John Breaux of Crowley.[9]

In 2011, Wiggins failed in a bid to unseat fellow Republican State Representative Chris Hazel of Ball, who won a second term in the District 27 seat.[10]

References

  1. "Randy Wiggins: Your Local State Farm Insurance Agent". imageforward.com. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2012" (PDF). house.louisiana.gov. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Election returns, October 23, 1999". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  4. "Election returns, October 21, 1995". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  5. ""STATE LAWMAKERS TO GET FIRST HAND LOOK AT HEALTH CARE PROGRAMS IN RAPIDES AND AVOYELLES PARISHES", October 28, 1997". senate.legis.state.la.us. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
  6. "House District 27". enlou.com. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  7. "Randy Wiggins". statefarm.com. Retrieved September 19, 1009. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  8. "Randy Wiggins from zip code 71301". watchdog.net. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  9. "PINEVILLE, LA Political Contributions by Individuals". city-data.com. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  10. "Louisiana primary election returns, October 22, 2011". staticresults.sos.la.gov. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
Political offices
Preceded by
Rick L. Farrar
Louisiana State Representative for the 27th District (northern Rapides Parish)
Randy E. Wiggins

19962000
Succeeded by
Rick L. Farrar