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Higher Office(s) Served: Representative

BOB RILEY was born and raised in the small Claye County town of Ashland, Alabama, where his family has lived on ranches and farms for six generations. After graduating from the University of Alabama at age 20 with a degree in business administration, he returned to his hometown, married his high school sweetheart, and started a small business with his brother selling eggs door-to-door. That small, family-owned venture grew to become one of the largest integrated poultry operations in the Southeast. For 32 years, Riley ran a number of successful businesses, including a trucking company, a car dealership, a real estate company, a grocery store, and a small pharmacy. He's also been a cattleman for the last 25 years, having more than 400 head of cattle on his Ashland ranch.

In 1996, Riley ran a successful congressional campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in his first bid for state or national office. In 1998, he became the first Republican congressman since reconstruction to be reelected to Alabama's Third District, garnering nearly 90 percent of the vote with no major party opposition. A strong supporter of term limits, Riley pledged at the outset of his congressional career to serve no more than three terms in Washington and he kept that pledge. In 2002, Riley was elected governor of Alabama and vigorously pursued a government reform agenda. Governing magazine, one of the nation?s most respected publications on state and local government issues, selected Riley as a "Public Official of the Year" in 2003. He and his wife Patsy have four children and four grandchildren.