[4] Rigg campaigned for the House of Commons of Canada in the 1911 federal election, but finished third in the riding of Winnipeg against Conservative Alexander Haggart.
Rigg's victory began a tradition of social-democratic representation in Winnipeg's council which has continued to the present day.
During the 1915 campaign, Rigg and fellow SDP candidate Arthur Beech emphasized both general reforms and the broader working-class struggle.
Their meetings were often disrupted by members of the more hardline Socialist Party, who accused Rigg and Beech of being "sentimentalists and Christ-lovers".
Rigg's success was credited, in part, to a strong support base among ethnic communities in Winnipeg's north end.
Rigg's campaign was based primarily on opposition to Prime Minister Robert Borden's policy of conscripting men for military service in World War I.