David recalled, “(The) Democrats told me my issues were not their issues and instead they were solely focused on keeping Dems in power”. He told them he was interested in running for his House District (30). This presented a problem for the Democratic leaders, since the incumbent Joe Gallegos was a Democrat. However, the word was out that Gallegos may not seek re-election. David thought there was a chance for him to get the party support, or at least their commitment to be neutral if there were a contested primary. He was wrong. “I was told they needed to keep a hispanic in the District 30 seat and I met the other candidate they planned on taking Gallegos seat should he leave office“

This is a testament to the organization of the House Democrats. They protect their chosen candidate in a contested primary. They already had a hand-picked successor if he planned to leave.

“When I met with the republican chair (of Washington County) I was told that my veteran, unemployment and education issues weren’t the republican parties issues and instead Gay Marriage was the only “frontal assault” that they intended to use. I was told that unless I would ‘carry that flag’ I would be asking their party to set aside their beliefs and they wouldn’t.

The Washington County Republican party may want their chosen candidate to run on gay marriage but that's not likely to happen. The latest shows that 32% of Republicans nationwide support gay marriage. In Oregon that number is probably a bit higher.

That means roughly 206,000 of the 643,928 registered Republicans in Oregon oppose gay marriage. Oregon House Republicans and Business lobby will force the Republican nominee in HD 30 to talk about more important issues like jobs and education. If they don't House Republicans and the lobby will find someone else. Either way, don't expect gay marriage to be a big issue in HD 30.