This is Biggs’ second time in two months facing off against McCarthy in an election over who will become the next speaker. Last month he was named as one of four Republican members of Congress referred to the House Ethics Committee for failure to comply. Biggs denied he ever sought a pardon and refused to comply with a subpoena to appear before the committee. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol said Biggs was one of several Republican lawmakers who sought pardons before Trump left the White House. Testimony from a witness to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. “To keep an eye on what congressional conservatives are thinking and advocating, Biggs is increasingly one to watch.” “Biggs makes the public case for the conservative position,” The Arizona Republic once opined. He also chaired the House Freedom Caucus and has been a vocal defender of former President Donald Trump. Biggs used the money to jump-start his political career, leading him to opportunities to serve in the Arizona House and Senate, where he served as president, before getting elected to Congress.Ī champion of the political right, Biggs boasts of high lifetime ratings from conservative organizations like Heritage Action and Club for Growth for his voting record in Congress. But then his life changed overnight when he won a $10 million sweepstakes contest in 1993 from American Family Publishers. Biggs graduated from Brigham Young University in 1982, then went on to earn a master’s and Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arizona.Īfter law school, Biggs worked as an attorney. Who were the Latter-day Saints on the ballot for Congress from Utah and beyond?.Will GOP leader Kevin McCarthy win Tuesday’s vote for Speaker? It’s not certain.Before his election to the House, Biggs served in the Arizona state legislature for 14 years. He is a former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. Chip Roy of Texas, who also voted against McCarthy, gave a speech Tuesday arguing “fiscal conservatives” want the House rules changed so bills like last month’s $1.7 trillion omnibus bill won’t pass without rigorous debate.īiggs has represented Arizona’s 5th congressional district, which includes Gilbert, since 2016. “McCarthy still has a few more days to make some sort of deal, but what does Biggs and his group want that they haven’t already tried to hammer out?”īiggs, long a contrary voice in the House, has accused McCarthy of being part of the “establishment,” and said on Twitter that he wants to “break the establishment.” His group of detractors have asked for various rule changes which they say will restore debate and the power of individual representatives in the House. “I suppose McCarthy’s going to fade over time, because people aren’t going to want to vote again and again just to show he doesn’t have the votes,” Pope said. Brigham Young University political science Professor Jeremy Pope told the Deseret News that McCarthy is still the man to beat going into Wednesday, but the longer it takes the greater chance Biggs has to oust him. Not that McCarthy has been knocked out of the race yet - he was the top GOP vote-getter on Tuesday. Biggs has said he doesn’t want to be speaker, but that he was willing to put himself forward to keep McCarthy from the position.īy the end of the first day of the 118th Congress on Tuesday, no one had garnered the required 218 votes to secure the speaker’s gavel, making it the first time since 1923 that a new Congress will need multiple ballots to choose a speaker. Andy Biggs of Arizona received 10 votes for speaker on the first ballot on Tuesday - enough to keep McCarthy from winning. Kevin McCarthy of California from ascending to the role as speaker in the House of Representatives, Rep. After spending the past several weeks leading the effort to block GOP leader Rep.
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