Preceded by Bruce Starr Occupation State Senator Party Democratic Party Political party Democratic Spouse Katie Riley | Nationality American Role American Politician Preceded by Mary Gallegos Name Chuck Riley Succeeded by Katie Eyre Brewer | |
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Alma mater University of Illinois
Portland State University Residence Hillsboro, Oregon, United States Education Portland State University, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign | ||
Chuck Riley (born 1939) is an American politician in the state of Oregon. A native of Illinois, he is the Democratic senator from District 15, which includes Hillsboro, Forest Grove, and Cornelius in western Washington County. He served three terms in the Oregon House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011. He is also a former consultant.
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Riley was the Democratic nominee for Senate District 15 in 2010, losing to incumbent State Senator Bruce Starr. However, Riley prevailed in a rematch against Starr in 2014, winning in the tightest Oregon legislative election of the year.
Early life
Chuck Riley was born in 1939 in Illinois where he grew up on his father’s farm. In 1957, he graduated from Mount Vernon High School in Mount Vernon before enrolling in college. He took some classes at the University of Illinois, majoring in mathematics, before enlisting in the United States Air Force in 1958. Riley remained in the Air Force until 1961 and spent some time at the Army Language School learning Russian. He later attended Southern Illinois University as an art major and worked for the school before moving to California where he worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab and for Santa Barbara County.
In 1979, he moved to Oregon and settled in Washington County west of Portland. He moved to Hillsboro in 1992 and worked for First Interstate Bank as a systems analyst. Riley also worked in the same position with Blue Cross of Oregon. He later ran his own computer consulting business. Riley is married to wife Katie Riley who teaches at Oregon Health & Sciences University, and they have four children. He enrolled at Portland State University where he majored in art.
Political career
In 2000, Riley enter politics and ran for a seat on the Hillsboro City Council, losing to incumbent Karen McKinney. The following year he ran for a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives as a Democrat to represent District 29, running unopposed in the primary election. In the November general election he lost to Republican Mary Gallegos by a total of 434 votes. In May 2004, Riley defeated Elena Uhing in the Democratic primary for the same district. Riley then defeated Gallegos in the November 2004 election for the same seat.
In 2006, he faced off against Terry Rilling in the district that has more Democratic voters than Republicans. Riley won with 55% of the vote to Rilling’s 45% in the November election. In the 2007-08 Legislature, Riley was chairman of the Government Accountability and Information Technology Committee in the House. During the 2008 special session he also served on the Consumer Protection and the Workforce and Economic Development committees.
Riley faced Rilling again in the November 2008 election for the House seat after Republican primary winner Jeff Duyck was later declared ineligible. Duyck’s property spans two districts and the county elections office miscalculated where he was registered to vote and thus which seat he was eligible to run for. Politically, Riley supported Measure 50 in 2007 and Measure 49 in 2007, and is pro-choice on the issue of abortion. In 2009, he announced he would run for a seat in the Oregon State Senate in 2010, challenging incumbent Republican Bruce Starr in District 15. Riley lost to Starr, and in 2011 ran for a seat on the school board for Portland Community College, losing in May to Deanna Palm.
In 2014, Riley ran again for Senate against Starr. The contest was one of the most expensive legislative races in the state and was decided by the closest vote margin, with Riley edging out Starr by just a few hundred votes. He was sworn into the Senate on January 12, 2015, and serves on the Senate Committee on Business and Transportation, the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue, the Joint Committee on Tax Credits, and the Joint Committee on Audits. Additionally, he serves as co-chair of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Information Technology.
In April, 2015 gun activists filed a recall petition against Senator Riley and two members of the Oregon House of Representatives because of their support of SB 941, a bill which requires background checks for gun sales. The recall organizers will have until July to collect over 6200 signatures to get the recall on the ballot.