Denver Riggleman was
born in Virginia and
grew up in Manassas.
Denver graduated
from Stonewall
Jackson High school
in 1988, and later
served in the United
States Air Force
from 1992 to1996. He
earned an A.A. from
Burlington County
College in 1996, an
A.A.S. degree in
Avionics Systems
from the Community
College of the Air
force in 1996, a BA
in Foreign Affairs
from the University
of Virginia in 1998
and a Masters
Certificate in
Program Management
from Villanova in
2007. In 2013
Riggleman and his
wife, Christine,
built, and currently
operate, Silverback
Distillery in Afton,
Virginia. He entered
the Congressional
race as the
Republican nominee
late on June 2,
2018. replacing Tom
Garrett who decided
not to seek
re-election, citing
struggles with
alcoholism.
Riggleman’s campaign
drew national
attention when his
opponent described
him as a “devotee of
Bigfoot erotica.”
Riggleman had
tweeted a picture
from his personal
Instagram account,
depicting a nude
Bigfoot with a large
black bar with the
word “censored” over
the creature’s
penis. Riggleman
stated that he did
not draw the
pictures and they’re
the result of
long-standing jokes
with his military
buddies. Riggleman
claimed he was
merely involved in a
study into why
people believed that
the giant furry
creature exists and,
as part of that
study, he is
finishing a book
about those beliefs
that will be done in
parody form called
“Mating Habits of
Bigfoot and Why
Women Want him.”
“For me, the book
really is an
anthropological
study on all the
people who believe
in Bigfoot and the
different Bigfoot
belief systems out
there.
Riggleman said, “I’m
not gonna change the
title. Absolutely
not. It’s funny, I
love it.”
