Richard Riggs, Candidate for Oregon House District 20

Richard Riggs is the Democrat running in House District 20, which includes downtown Salem and nearby neighborhoods, parts of south Salem (west of Commercial and north of Kuebler),  rural Marion county south of Salem and near the Willamette River (west of Skyline), West Salem, Independence and Monmouth. 

House District 20 is one of three swing districts in the Salem area.  A swing district is one in which the difference in Democratic and Republican Party registration is five percentage points or less.      

The other two swing districts are:  District 21, which Democrat  Brian Clem represents, and District 22, which Democrat Betty Komp represents.  Brian Clem won from Republican Billy Dalto in 2006.  Betty Komp won her seat in 2004 and was re-elected in 2006. 

Republican, Vicki Berger, is the incumbent in District 21.  She has held on to this seat by portraying herself as a moderate even though her voting record tells a different story.   Vicki is far too conservative for District 20 and Democrats have a great opportunity to take this seat from the Republicans in 2008.