Representative Effiegene Locke Wingo

Effiegene Locke Wingo served as a Representative from Arkansas in the United States Congress from 1929 to 1933. A member of the Democratic Party, Effiegene Locke Wingo contributed to the legislative process during 2 terms in office.

Effiegene Locke Wingo’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history. As a member of the House of Representatives, Effiegene Locke Wingo participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of constituents.

Effiegene Wingo (née Locke; April 13, 1883 – September 19, 1962) was a U.S. Representative from Arkansas, wife of Otis Theodore Wingo and great-great-great-granddaughter of Matthew Locke. Born in Lockesburg in Sevier County in southwestern Arkansas, Wingo attended public and private schools and Union Female College in Oxford, Mississippi. She graduated in 1901 from Maddox Seminary in Little Rock. She lived in Little Rock and Texarkana, Arkansas, before establishing her permanent residence in De Queen in Sevier County. Wingo was elected as a Democrat on November 4, 1930, to the 71st Congress to fill the vacancy caused by her husband’s death, and on the same day was elected to the 72nd Congress and served from November 4, 1930, to March 3, 1933. She was not a candidate for renomination in 1932. Osro Cobb, then a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives and later the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, was urged by his party to challenge Wingo for the congressional vacancy, but he instead endorsed the Democrat. In a statement, Cobb said that Wingo “is eminently qualified to fill the position left by her late husband, and I would not under any circumstances oppose her in the general election.” In 1934, Wingo co-founded the National Institute of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. She also engaged in educational and research work. Wingo died September 19, 1962, in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, while visiting a son. She is interred along with her husband at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.