Early life
Biggs was born on November 7, 1958, in Tucson,Arizona State Legislature
State House of Representatives
In 2002, with Republican Representative Eddie Farnsworth redistricted from District 30, Biggs ran in the five-way September 10 Republican primary, placing second with 5,778 votes. Biggs and Farnsworth were unopposed in the general election, where Biggs took the first seat with 31,812 votes and Farnsworth took the second. In 2004, Biggs and Farnsworth were unopposed in the September 7 Republican primary; Farnsworth placed first and Biggs placed second with 11,202 votes. In the three-way general election, Farnsworth took the first seat and Biggs the second with 51,932 votes, ahead of Libertarian candidate Wade Reynolds. In 2006, Biggs and Farnsworth were challenged in the four-way September 12 Republican primary; Farnsworth placed first and Biggs placed second with 7,793 votes. In the three-way general election, Farnsworth took the first seat and Biggs the second with 38,085 votes, ahead of Libertarian candidate Edward Schwebel. In 2008, with Farnsworth running for Arizona Senate and leaving a House District 22 seat open, Biggs ran in the four-way September 2 Republican primary, placing first with 9,800 votes. Biggs and fellow Republican nominee Laurin Hendrix won the general election, where Biggs took the first seat with 59,615 votes and Hendrix the second, ahead of Democratic nominee Glenn Ray, who had run for the district's senate seat in 2006.State Senate
In 2010, when Republican Senator Thayer Verschoor ran for State Treasurer of Arizona and left the Senate District 22 seat open, Biggs was unopposed in both the August 24 Republican primary, winning with 25,792 votes, and the November 2 general election, winning with 59,933 votes. In 2012, redistricted to District 12, and with incumbent Republican Senator John B. Nelson redistricted to District 13, Biggs was unopposed in both the August 28 Republican primary, winning with 19,844 votes, and the November 6 general election, winning with 63,812 votes.U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
In 2016, Biggs ran for Congress from the 5th District to replace retiring Representative Matt Salmon. He led the field in the four-way Republican primary, finishing nine votes ahead of his nearest opponent, businesswoman Christine Jones. A recanvass boosted Biggs's margin to 16 votes, and an automatic recount confirmed him as the nominee by 27 votes. His primary victory virtually assured him of being the next representative from the district; the 5th and its predecessors have been in Republican hands for all but one term since 1953. Biggs defeated Democratic nominee Talia Fuentes, 64.1% to 35.9%. He was not required to give up his state senate seat under Arizona's resign-to-run laws, since he was in the last year of what would have been his final term in the chamber.Tenure
Biggs is a member of the Congressional Western Caucus and the Republican Study Committee. In September 2019, he replaced Mark Meadows as chair of the Freedom Caucus. Biggs voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. After the vote, he said the bill would "provide much-needed economic relief" to American citizens and businesses. On March 4, 2020, Ken Buck and Biggs were the only two representatives to vote against an $8.3 billion emergency aid package meant to help the U.S. respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, Biggs called the bill "larded-up" and "bloated". Ten days later, he voted against the larger Coronavirus Response Act, which passed the House, 363–40. Biggs helped lead the congressional resistance to federal COVID-19 pandemic aid as one of a handful of lawmakers who publicly opposed all four coronavirus relief packages passed in early 2020. Biggs said "the cure is proving worse than the disease" and asked "how much longer the American people will acquiesce to unconstitutional and crushing government action."Contesting the 2020 presidential election
In 2020, Biggs joined Representative Paul Gosar in a video claiming there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. They claimed that Arizona's voting machines were faulty, and Biggs claimed that poll watchers were allowed to participate in vote tabulations in2021 attack on the United States Capitol
During the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Biggs and all other House members were ushered to a secure location when the House chamber was cleared. A video of Biggs later surfaced in which he refused to wear a face mask during the Capitol attack, a violation of House rules at the time. Biggs subsequently voted to object to Arizona's and Pennsylvania's electoral votes that day, joining 138 other House Republicans. On January 12, 2021, Biggs called on Representative Liz Cheney to resign from her leadership position in the Republican caucus after she voted in favor of Donald Trump's second impeachment. In the aftermath of the events on January 6, Biggs's brothers William and Daniel wrote a letter to the editor of '' The Arizona Republic'' demanding their brother's removal from office. They wrote that Biggs is "at least partially to blame" for the Capitol storming. They also condemned his refusal to wear a mask in the secure location. Biggs was one of 12 House Republicans to vote against H.R 1085 to award three Congressional Gold Medals to the U.S. Capitol Police who protected the Capitol on January 6. In June 2021, he and 20 other House Republicans voted against a similar resolution. The House committee investigating the January 6 attack subpoenaed Biggs on May 12, 2022. During the committee hearing on June 21, 2022, Speaker of the Arizona House Russell Bowers testified that Biggs called him on the morning of January 6 asking him to sign a letter calling for decertification of the Arizona electors. On June 23, 2022, witnesses confirmed that Biggs had asked for a presidential pardon for his activities related to the certification of the vote.Foreign and defense policy
Biggs was among 60 Republicans to oppose condemning Trump's action of withdrawing forces from Syria. He, Matt Gaetz, and a handful of other Republicans broke with their party and voted to end Saudi assistance to the War in Yemen. On March 19, 2021, Biggs voted against a House resolution to condemn the military coup in Myanmar. The resolution passed, 398–14, with one other member, Paul Gosar, voting present. Biggs called the violence "tragic" but added that "there is suffering everywhere in the world" and the U.S. "can't be the military police for the entire world", saying the resolution was a way to "put our foot in the door in Burma." The resolution was symbolic and did not call for use of force. In June 2021, Biggs was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. In July 2021, Biggs voted against the bipartisan ALLIES Act, which would increase by 8,000 the number of special immigrant visas for Afghan allies of the U.S. military during its invasion of Afghanistan, while also reducing some application requirements that caused long application backlogs; the bill passed the House, 407–16. In September 2021, Biggs was among 75 House Republicans to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, which contains a provision that would require women to be drafted. In 2022, Biggs voted against a bill to provide approximately $14 billion to the government of Ukraine. In July 2022, Biggs was one of 18 Republicans to vote against ratifying Sweden's and Finland's applications for NATO membership. In 2023, Biggs was among 47 Republicans to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21, which directed President Biden to remove U.S. troops from2023 Speaker election
Biggs ran in the Republican conference election for Speaker of the House of Representatives against Kevin McCarthy, then the House Minority Leader. McCarthy defeated him, 188 votes to 31. In the 2023 Speaker election, fellow Freedom Caucus member Paul Gosar nominated Biggs. He received 10 votes on the first ballot, which, alongside nine votes for other Republican candidates, was enough to necessitate a second ballot. This made the 2023 election the first to take more than one ballot since 1923. Biggs was not nominated for the second ballot, and voted for Jim Jordan. He did not receive any votes on ballots 2 through 13, but received two votes on the 14th ballot despite not being nominated.Removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House
On October 3, 2023, Biggs was one of eight Republicans who voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House; during the debate which preceded the vote, Biggs had criticized McCarthy for allowing the passage of a temporary spending bill which did not include provisions to enhance border security.Committee assignments
For the 119th Congress: * Committee on Oversight and Accountability ** Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement ** Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs * Committee on the Judiciary ** Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance (Chair) ** Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and EnforcementCaucus memberships
* Freedom Caucus * Congressional Western CaucusPolitical positions
Biggs chairs the Freedom Caucus, which has been described as right-wing populist.Abortion
Biggs is "opposed to all forms of elective abortion". He has argued in favor of abolishing the filibuster to make it easier to pass anti-abortion laws. He supported the 2022 overturning of ''Roe v. Wade'', calling it "a major victory for the unborn".Agriculture
Biggs opposes federal preemption of state and local laws regulating agricultural products sold across state lines, including those related to animal welfare. In March 2024, Biggs was among ten House Republicans who signed a letter to the House Committee on Agriculture opposing the inclusion of the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act in the 2024 farm bill. The EATS Act sought to invalidate certain state laws establishing minimum space requirements for animal products sold within the state, such as California's Proposition 12. The letter argued that the legislation would undermine states' rights and harm U.S. national security, while increasing the influence of foreign-owned corporations, especially those based in China, over the U.S. agricultural sector.Article V convention
Biggs opposes a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution, also known as an Article V convention. During his tenure as Arizona Senate president, Biggs blocked a resolution calling for a convention. In 2015, Biggs published a book, ''The Con of the Con-Con,'' arguing against a convention.Climate change
Biggs rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. Replying to a candidate survey from ''The Arizona Republic'', Biggs wrote, "I do not believe climate change is occurring. I do not think that humans have a significant impact on climate. The federal government should stop regulating and stomping on our economy and freedoms in the name of a discredited theory." He submitted an amendment to the 2018 spending bill that would defund the National Climate Assessment and urged President Trump to withdraw from the Paris Accords. In February 2020, when Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy attempted to make a modest effort to gather the support of concerned young voters via a restrained approach to address climate change, Biggs and other hardline denialists objected. Biggs said: "People are like, 'Is this an official rollout? It can't be official. We didn't vote on it'." While factions of the Republican Party were split on whether to continue climate change denial, conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and the Competitive Enterprise Institute supported continuation. In 2018, Biggs was the sole House member to receive a 100% rating from the CFG.COVID-19
Biggs opposes wearing masks to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, encouraging Arizonans not to wear them. In July 2020, he tweeted that people should not trust Anthony Fauci or Deborah Birx. He has called for the White House Coronavirus Task Force to be disbanded. During a major outbreak in the summer of 2020 in Arizona, Biggs questioned the hospitalization numbers and called Governor Doug Ducey's two-month lockdown a result of "hysteria" from "Democratic Leftists." In September 2020, Biggs posted a series of tweets supporting the use of hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19.Healthcare
In 2018, Biggs sponsored a bill "designed to let very sick patients request access to experimental medicines without government oversight", which passed the House, 267–149. Biggs said the bill was "not false hope; it is hope."Juneteenth
In June 2021, Biggs was among 14 House Republicans who voted against passing legislation to establish June 19, or Juneteenth, as a federal holiday.LGBTQ rights
Biggs is a former policy advisor to United Families International, a nonprofit that opposes same-sex marriage. Biggs condemned the Supreme Court ruling in '' Obergefell v. Hodges'', which held that same-sex marriage bans violated the US constitution.Net neutrality
Biggs has gone on record as opposingRobert Mueller
On June 23, 2017, Biggs was one of three Republicans who called for the resignation of Robert Mueller, the prosecutor investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, on the grounds that Mueller could not conduct his investigation fairly because of events that happened when he was the director of theTexting while driving
In 2017, Biggs used his powers as transportation chair and president of the Arizona State Senate to block a bill banning driving while texting for holders of a learning permit.9/11 Victims Compensation Fund
In 2019, Biggs was one of 11 House Republicans to oppose funding for the September 11 Victims Compensation Fund bill H.R. 1327. On July 12, 2019, the measure passed the House, 402–12.Israel
Biggs voted to provide Israel with support following 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.Antitrust
In 2022, Biggs was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis
In April 2023, Biggs was one of four Republican representatives who voted against the proposed Limit, Save, Grow Act, which raised the debt ceiling while at the same time providing for spending cuts, saying that the proposed spending and deficit reductions contained in the bill were insufficient. In June of the same year, Biggs was among the 71 Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House.Deficit Spending
In May 2025, Biggs voted for the "One Big Beautiful Bill" which is estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to cause the National Deficit to increase by $3.7 trillion dollars by 2034.Medicaid and AHCCCS
In May 2025, Biggs voted for the "One Big Beautiful Bill" which includes cuts to Medicaid and is estimated to result in between 227,000 and 445,000 Arizonans losing their Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) insurance coverage.Personal life
Biggs is married to Cindy Biggs. Their daughter died of cancer in 2025.Published works
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