Former politician, arts supporter and figure in Fresno’s Tower District dies

On his first meeting as a newly elected member of the city council in 1995, The Fresno Bee refered to Mike Briggs as “guitarist Mike Briggs,” such was his political resume at the time.

He was representing Fresno’s District 1, which includes part of the Tower District, the neighborhood where he would go on to become a well-known figure, operating a real estate company and later a start-up TV station out of a house at Olive and Van Ness avenues.

Briggs died on Sunday “after a brief but courageous battle with an aggressive cancer,” according to a statement from his family. “He spent his final months surrounded by family and friends, making the most of every moment with those he loved.”

He was 66.

Details on a public memorial will be shared in the next few days, the family said.

Briggs served one term on the city council before being elected to the State Assembly in 1998. There, he served for two terms, before making an unsuccessful congressional run in a race that included former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson and a then-relatively unknown Visalia Republican named Devin Nunes.

Nunes won.

But Briggs never lost his political aspirations. He ran for State Assembly again in 2004 and for city council at least twice, most recently in 2022, when he faced off against Annalisa Perea to again represent District 1.

And he wasn’t without controversy.

The Fair Political Practices Commission fined Briggs and his campaign $34,000 for violations related to his 2004 senate run. There were questions about his residency during a city council election in 2010, when opponents claimed he wasn’t living in the district he was running to represent. Briggs said he had been renting the downstairs of a home owned by a longtime political ally.

Formed Central Valley Talk in 2008

Outside public service, Briggs was known for supporting arts, culture and small business.

In 2008, he created CentralValleyTalk.com an internet TV station that would eventually get picked up for air by Cocola Broadcasting. Its programming was known for showcasing local musicians, authors and artists.

Briggs hosted a literary show called “Briggs on Books.”

“He let me be the star,” says Chuck Leonard, who hosted the talk show Central Valley Buzz from 2008 until 2015, when it got picked up by KAIL. The two became “instant friends” at a meeting they attended together at their children’s school.

“He’s like the smartest guy I ever knew,” Leonard says.

Briggs was also a Tower District loyalist.

Following news of his death, a memorial went up at Detention Billiards, one of the many places he would frequent. “He was everywhere,” Leonard says, “a regular at so many places, going all the way back to the Daily Planet.”

“If ever there were a Tower icon, he was it.”

Mayor Jerry Dyer on social media called Briggs a good friend: “Mike’s legacy of leadership, service, love for Fresno, and his unwavering support for the Tower District will be remembered for years go come.”

RIP Fresno emcee Derrick ‘Aesop’ McElroy

Briggs’ death is a second hit for the Tower District community, which was already mouring the death of Derrick “Aseop” McElroy.

Though a Fresno native, McElroy made a name for himself in the Bay Area as part of The Living Legends, a hip-hop crew that helped pioneer an entire genre of indie hip-hop in the late ’90s. As part of the group, McElroy toured internationally and became a kind of underground star.

When he returned to Fresno in the early 2002s, he became a fixture on the Tower District scene, as a performer and DJ, but also as a sound engineer and promoter. He was known to hosted weekly events in the neighborhood and made it priority to help other artists and musicians.

Prior to his death, McElroy was working to open Aesop’s Table, a retro arcade and art space on Fulton Street, just south of the Tower District. He also had plans for an end-of-the-year tour with the Living Legends, which reunited in 2023.

According to a statement from the group last month, a cause of death had not been reported, but McElroy was found in his bed and “appears to have passed in his sleep.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2025 at 3:40 PM.