Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District has, historically, elected Republicans. The last one to run there, Tom Garrett, beat his opponent, a moderate Democrat, by 16 points. But that was in 2016, when Donald Trump was on the ballot. This year, Republican Denver Riggleman is not assured of victory.
We’re standing in the warehouse of a Nelson County distillery built by Republican Party activist and defense department contractor Denver Riggleman and his wife Christine. As daughter and general manager Lauren Riggleman pushes a dolly loaded with liquor, a box slips from the top.
Riggleman shakes his head and takes the opportunity to complain about taxes.
“If you do spill something or break something which happens once a month here, we have to pay taxes on the loss,” he says.
He’s been upset about that and about government regulations since the Rigglemans began trying to build the place.
“Whether it was private property rights with Dominion, whether it was the eight regulatory agencies that were just crushing us, they’re not looking at any common sense,” Riggleman remarks. “They’re just filling in the boxes.”
The experience led him to a brief run for governor, but he had no plans to run for Congress until Representative Tom Garrett said he would not seek re-election. Riggleman had, by then, decided the Trump administration was doing some good stuff. He cites, for example, a recent cut in federal taxes.
“We saved $8,000-$10,000 per month,” he reports. “You can see that federal policies on taxation and regulatory burden can make a difference.”
As an employer and the father of three kids in their 20’s, he thought health insurance premiums were too high, and he wanted Washington to do something about that.
“There’s no way there’s ever going to be Medicare for all, and there’s no way there’s ever going to be 100% free market insurance, so why don’t we stop polarizing the issue and just find a bi-parrtisan solution.”
And what might that solution be?
“Listen, if I don’t know the complete answer,” Riggleman admits. “I think if somebody knew the answer we’d be okay right now.”
He won’t pledge allegiance to the president, although he respects the office and says his views align with those of the Freedom Caucus on many issues. Gay marriage and abortion are not among them.
“As far as marriage, I don’t think government should be involved in marriage at all, but if they are everybody has a right to do what they want,” the candidate argues. “As far as pro life, I do believe in exceptions. I’m not a big fan of certain funding for certain organizations based on abortion, but a lot of it is not only pro-life but it’s also how we utilize tax dollars.”
Riggleman is also big on cyber-security and national defense after a successful career in the military.
“For three years before that I had a 1.1 GPA at community college, so not the most stunning catch for my wife, trust me. ’95 I enlisted, did pretty well, got promoted early, and then they said, ‘Denver, you can go to college.’”
He had earned two associates’ degrees in political science and avionics but was awed by the chance to attend a university.
“Nobody in my family had ever graduated a four-year institution, and they said, ‘Pick any school in the country, and we’ll send you,’ and I got into UVA. Being born and raised in Virginia that was a dream, because my dad was a janitor at UVA.”
Riggleman would go on to start Cyber Safari – a company that works for the Pentagon.
“The mission is electronic warfare and countermeasures.”
And – following his wife’s dream of making. She called the distillery Silverback, because of her husband’s slight resemblance to a senior male gorilla.
“That was the nickname my daughters gave me. I got gray really early. I guess I was grumpy and over-protective as a dad, and I was also a power lifter.”
Because Virginia does not register voters by party, no one can say how Republican the district is, but Riggleman knows its boundaries were drawn to favor the GOP.
“You know gerrymandering is real, and our district looks like a dragon riding a scooter.”
And while his opponent has raised much more money than he, Riggleman is confident the party will do what’s proven time and again to be essential in non-presidential elections -- to get out the vote.
To learn more about Riggleman's views on the issues, listen to this interview with RadioIQ's Charlottesville Bureau Chief Sandy Hausman. He begins with a description of his company, Cyber Safari.
