Motorcycle Lobbyist Seeks 20th District House Seat

The race for the Washington State House of Representatives 20th District Position 1 seat recently got competitive as Republican Brian Lange announced his candidacy late last month.

Lange has been a Morton resident for the past 20 years and is seeking the vacancy left by retiring state Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis. DeBolt announced his retirement on the floor of the House Feb. 6 and endorsed Centralia City Councilor Peter Abbarno, an attorney. Following DeBolt’s announcement, Lange said he reached out to others who supported the idea of him running for the open seat.

Lange said he is generally supportive of the current 20th District representation, which has particularly long-serving members in the House of Representatives. Lange said he had been entertaining the idea to run for “quite a while” prior to DeBolt’s announcement, noting he already has experience in the Capitol from his current career.

Lange currently serves as a lobbyist for ABATE of Washington, a motorcyclist advocacy group that generally opposes forced regulation of motorcycles. Through his roughly five years in that position he said he learned that there were lawmakers on both sides of the aisle more focused on their constituency than party lines, something he would like to do should he be the 20th District’s choice.

A position paper from Lange highlighted a few of his main concerns should he be elected. Upholding $30 car tabs, repeal of comprehensive sexual health education, opposition to the low carbon fuel standard, and generally reducing the tax burden on small businesses and families.

Lange mentioned specifically a desire to work on legislation that would benefit a community organization-based approach to combating homelessness, particularly among families and veterans. He also would like to see reforms to the state foster care system, reducing barriers to family reunification in low-risk situations as well as increasing foster care worker pay, he stated in his position paper.

Lange said he was a second-generation motorcyclist, having started to ride in childhood. More toward his current work, Lange mentioned he would like to see the repeal or amendment of the weight fees on motorcycles. He argued that a $25 fee assessed on vehicles up to two tons was not equitable for a 300-pound motorcycle, saying it dis-incentivized some of the draw on picking the smaller, more fuel-efficient transport.

Lange pointed to a 2011 study conducted in Belgium that showed an increase in the proportion of motorcycle traffic would help to ease congestion, a problem particularly felt by the south of the district who may have to commute into Portland for work.

Outside of lobbying Lange said he had a varied background including service in the U.S. Navy, work in sales, clerical work, commercial driving and construction.

Even though restrictions on gatherings imposed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic has but a halt to public fundraisers for campaigns, Lange said he still has seen support and contributions from all ends of the district, commenting that “so far so good” when it came to funding his candidacy.

Abbarno, who currently serves on the Centralia City Council, already had the endorsements of DeBolt and fellow 20th District Rep. Ed Orcutt.

Compared to Abbarno, Lange said he would be a better representation of working-class constituents in the 20th District, also pointing to his experience working in Olympia as an asset to him being the district’s representative.

“I’m one of those people who if I’ve got something that needs to be done, I will do everything in my power to get it done and not play political games with it,” Lange said. He gave an example of legislation regarding motorcycle parking that although the Republican attempt had stalled out this past biennial session, saw the governor’s signature in March as a bill from Democratic legislators.

“I don’t care who takes credit for it, as long as it gets done,” Lange remarked about his policy strategy. He said he found the tendency for lawmaking to become political games “dishonorable,” referring back to his time in the military as guiding his principles.

“I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution many years ago, and no one has ever relieved me of that oath,” Lange remarked.