Career
Fordice was the first Republican to have served as governor of Mississippi since Reconstruction, and Briggs is the first Republican to have held the office of Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi since Reconstruction. Before that he served in Mississippi Senate. Promising a "fresh new face", Briggs defeated 12-year Democratic incumbent Brad Dye in the 1991 general election, 49.5 to 41.5 percent.
Former state senator Henry Kirksey, an Independent, claimed 9.0 percent.
Briggs ran for second term as lieutenant governor in 1995, but lost to a future governor, Ronnie Musgrove, a Democrat. Briggs ran for governor in 1999, but lost to Congressman Mike Parker in a crowded Grand Old Party primary.
Parker was then defeated by Musgrove. Briggs is currently an attorney in practice in Madison in central Mississippi.
