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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name=Randy Eugene Wiggins |office=Louisiana State Representative for District 27 (northern Rapides Parish) |term_start=1996 |term_end=2000 |precede..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Randy Eugene Wiggins
|office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative for District 27 (northern Rapides Parish)
|term_start=1996
|term_end=2000
|preceded=Rick Lamar Farrar
|succeeded=Rick L. Farrar
|birth_date=February 13, 1951
|birth_place=Louisiana
|spouse=Kathy Daniels Wiggins
|children=Three children
|residence=[[Pineville, Louisiana]], Rapides Parish, Louisiana
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|occupation=[[Insurance]] agent
|religion=[[Southern Baptist]]
|alma_mater=Buckeye High School<br>
University of Louisiana at [[Lafayette]]
|footnotes= '''Notes''':<br>
* Wiggins was succeeded in his [[Louisiana]] state House seat in 2000 by the man he defeated in 1995, [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] Rick Lamar Farrar (1960-2018) of [[Pineville, Louisiana|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.<br>
*Wiggins is a State Farm Insurance Chartered Life Underwriter in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] but resides in Pineville.
}}
'''Randy Eugene Wiggins''' (born February 13, 1951)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/randy-wiggins/e934420934190|title=Randy Wiggins|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=December 27, 2019}}</ref> is a State Farm Insurance agent in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], [[Louisiana]],<ref name=statefarm{{cite web|url=https://www.statefarm.com/agent/US/LA/Alexandria/Randy-Wiggins-FKY9N1YS000|title=Randy Wiggins: State Farm Insurance Agent, Alexandria, LA|publisher=Statefarm.com|accessdate=December 27, 2019}}</ref> who is the first [[Republican Party|Republican]] since [[Reconstruction]] to have been elected from Rapides Parish to the Louisiana House of Representatives.<ref name=house>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2020|publisher=Louisiana House of Representatives|accessdate=December 27, 2019}}</ref>
==Political life==
Wiggins served only a single term in the [[Pineville, Louisiana|Pineville]]-based District 27 from 1996 to 2000.<ref name=house/> In 1999, he failed in a race for state senator against f[[Democratic Party|Democratic]] former Senator [[Joe McPherson]], a businessman then of Pineville and later of Woodworth in southern Rapides Parish.<ref name=oct99>Louisiana Secrtary of State, Election Returns, October 23, 1999.</ref>
[[Jock Scott]], a [[professor]] and [[attorney]], 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 Lamar Farrar (1960-2018) of Pineville, 6,350 votes (51.1 percent) to 6,077 (48.9 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 21, 1995.</ref>
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 that the purpose of the tour was to allow lawmakers a better understanding of health-care issues and budget considerations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://senate.legis.state.la.us/CommunicationOffice/NewsReleases/1997/10-28-1997.htm|title=State Lawmakers to Get First Hand Look at Health Care Programs in Rapides and Avoyelles Parishes|date=October 28, 1997|publisher=senate.legis.state.la.us|accessdate=December 27, 2019}}</ref>
Wiggins ran for the state Senate when [[B. G. Dyess]], an Alexandria [[Southern 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.<ref name=oct99/>
Wiggins is a contributor to such Republicans as former [[U.S. Representative]] [[Rodney Alexander]], former [[U.S. Senator]] [[David Vitter]], and the 2002 Republican senatorial nominee Suzanne Haik Terrell of [[New Orleans, defeated by the Democratic incumbent [[Mary Landrieu], who won the second of her three terms.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://watchdog.net/contrib/71301/randy_wiggins|title=Randy Wiggins from zip code 71301|publisher=watchdog.net|accessdate=September 19, 2009}}</ref> In 1998, he contributed to current Insurance Commissioner [[Jim Donelon]] in Donelon’s unsuccessful Republican challenge to U.S. Senator [[John Breaux]] of Crowley in Acadia Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.city-data.com/elec2/elec-PINEVILLE-LA.html|title=Pineville, LA Political Contributions by Individuals|publisher=city-data.com|accessdate=December 27, 2019}}</ref>
In 2011, Wiggins failed in a bid to unseat fellow Republican State Representative [[Chris Hazel]] of Ball, north of Pineville, who won a second term in the District 27 seat<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Return, October 22, 2011.</ref> since elected to a state district judgeship.
In 2019, he was again an unsuccessful state Senator in the District 29 race, which encompasses [[African-American]] constituents in seven parishes. He lost to the incumbent Jay Luneau, an Alexandra Democratic lawyer. Luneau polled 16,196 votes (61.5 percent) to Wiggins' 10,158 (38.5 percent). Wiggins won only in Grant and Winn parishes and made particularly weak showings in Lincoln, Natchitoches, and Rapides parishes which supplied Luneau's margin of victory.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 12, 2019.</ref>
==Personal life==
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 a Southern Baptist and is affiliated with Kiwanis International in Pineville.<ref>enlou.com; website discontinued.</ref>
His insurance office, established in 1982, is located at 2146 North Mall Drive near the Alexandria Mall.<ref name=statefarm/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiggins, Randy}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:Southern Baptists]]
|name=Randy Eugene Wiggins
|office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative for District 27 (northern Rapides Parish)
|term_start=1996
|term_end=2000
|preceded=Rick Lamar Farrar
|succeeded=Rick L. Farrar
|birth_date=February 13, 1951
|birth_place=Louisiana
|spouse=Kathy Daniels Wiggins
|children=Three children
|residence=[[Pineville, Louisiana]], Rapides Parish, Louisiana
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|occupation=[[Insurance]] agent
|religion=[[Southern Baptist]]
|alma_mater=Buckeye High School<br>
University of Louisiana at [[Lafayette]]
|footnotes= '''Notes''':<br>
* Wiggins was succeeded in his [[Louisiana]] state House seat in 2000 by the man he defeated in 1995, [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] Rick Lamar Farrar (1960-2018) of [[Pineville, Louisiana|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.<br>
*Wiggins is a State Farm Insurance Chartered Life Underwriter in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] but resides in Pineville.
}}
'''Randy Eugene Wiggins''' (born February 13, 1951)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/randy-wiggins/e934420934190|title=Randy Wiggins|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=December 27, 2019}}</ref> is a State Farm Insurance agent in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], [[Louisiana]],<ref name=statefarm{{cite web|url=https://www.statefarm.com/agent/US/LA/Alexandria/Randy-Wiggins-FKY9N1YS000|title=Randy Wiggins: State Farm Insurance Agent, Alexandria, LA|publisher=Statefarm.com|accessdate=December 27, 2019}}</ref> who is the first [[Republican Party|Republican]] since [[Reconstruction]] to have been elected from Rapides Parish to the Louisiana House of Representatives.<ref name=house>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2020|publisher=Louisiana House of Representatives|accessdate=December 27, 2019}}</ref>
==Political life==
Wiggins served only a single term in the [[Pineville, Louisiana|Pineville]]-based District 27 from 1996 to 2000.<ref name=house/> In 1999, he failed in a race for state senator against f[[Democratic Party|Democratic]] former Senator [[Joe McPherson]], a businessman then of Pineville and later of Woodworth in southern Rapides Parish.<ref name=oct99>Louisiana Secrtary of State, Election Returns, October 23, 1999.</ref>
[[Jock Scott]], a [[professor]] and [[attorney]], 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 Lamar Farrar (1960-2018) of Pineville, 6,350 votes (51.1 percent) to 6,077 (48.9 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 21, 1995.</ref>
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 that the purpose of the tour was to allow lawmakers a better understanding of health-care issues and budget considerations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://senate.legis.state.la.us/CommunicationOffice/NewsReleases/1997/10-28-1997.htm|title=State Lawmakers to Get First Hand Look at Health Care Programs in Rapides and Avoyelles Parishes|date=October 28, 1997|publisher=senate.legis.state.la.us|accessdate=December 27, 2019}}</ref>
Wiggins ran for the state Senate when [[B. G. Dyess]], an Alexandria [[Southern 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.<ref name=oct99/>
Wiggins is a contributor to such Republicans as former [[U.S. Representative]] [[Rodney Alexander]], former [[U.S. Senator]] [[David Vitter]], and the 2002 Republican senatorial nominee Suzanne Haik Terrell of [[New Orleans, defeated by the Democratic incumbent [[Mary Landrieu], who won the second of her three terms.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://watchdog.net/contrib/71301/randy_wiggins|title=Randy Wiggins from zip code 71301|publisher=watchdog.net|accessdate=September 19, 2009}}</ref> In 1998, he contributed to current Insurance Commissioner [[Jim Donelon]] in Donelon’s unsuccessful Republican challenge to U.S. Senator [[John Breaux]] of Crowley in Acadia Parish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.city-data.com/elec2/elec-PINEVILLE-LA.html|title=Pineville, LA Political Contributions by Individuals|publisher=city-data.com|accessdate=December 27, 2019}}</ref>
In 2011, Wiggins failed in a bid to unseat fellow Republican State Representative [[Chris Hazel]] of Ball, north of Pineville, who won a second term in the District 27 seat<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Return, October 22, 2011.</ref> since elected to a state district judgeship.
In 2019, he was again an unsuccessful state Senator in the District 29 race, which encompasses [[African-American]] constituents in seven parishes. He lost to the incumbent Jay Luneau, an Alexandra Democratic lawyer. Luneau polled 16,196 votes (61.5 percent) to Wiggins' 10,158 (38.5 percent). Wiggins won only in Grant and Winn parishes and made particularly weak showings in Lincoln, Natchitoches, and Rapides parishes which supplied Luneau's margin of victory.<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 12, 2019.</ref>
==Personal life==
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 a Southern Baptist and is affiliated with Kiwanis International in Pineville.<ref>enlou.com; website discontinued.</ref>
His insurance office, established in 1982, is located at 2146 North Mall Drive near the Alexandria Mall.<ref name=statefarm/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiggins, Randy}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:Southern Baptists]]