He is the son of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo and served as a Republican and briefly as an Independent member of the Philadelphia City Council for a combined sixteen years.
He defeated Councilwoman Joan Specter, wife of then-U.S.
He shares his father's support of labor and community organizations.
The younger Rizzo easily won re-election as councilman-at-large in 1999, 2003 and 2007.
In 2011, he finished seventh out of nine candidates in the Republican primary, following his participation in the controversial Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP), under which he received a lump-sum payment from his city pension while continuing to receive his salary as a member of the city council.