Richard Ziser is an American real estate investor and socially conservative political activist belonging to the Republican Party.

Early life

Ziser was born June 7, 1953, in Pomona, California, and has resided in Las Vegas, Nevada since 1991.

Education

Ziser graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) with a BS in Industrial Engineering, 1976; then subsequently from Simon Greenleaf University in Santa Ana, CA, (now a campus of Trinity International University, with an MA in Christian Apologetics in 1989.

Career

U.S. Senate candidacy

In 2004, Ziser defeated 5 rival candidates in the Republican primary, then ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Harry Reid, losing 61%-35%. In 1998, Ziser lost his election bid to be on the Clark County, Nevada School Board.

Political activity

Ziser rose to political prominence as the leader of the effort to ban gay marriage in Nevada. He headed the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, a successful, four-year campaign that succeeded in amending Nevada's State Constitution to define marriage as a union between "one man and one woman" in 2000. In light of the Nevada Legislature's overriding of Governor Jim Gibbons' veto on domestic partnership legislation; due to take effect October 1, 2009. Ziser stated his intents to overturn the legislation as unconstitutional. Ziser is also an anti-abortion activist, opposing legalized abortion by proposing a Personhood Constitutional Amendment designed to protect the "right to life," of the fetus.

Additional sources