[2][3] He left Pacific in 1969 and spent ten years working for Flavorland Foods before becoming a general contractor in 1979.
[5] Entering state politics at age 59, he defeated Democrat Pat Kliewer to represent the area surrounding most of Hillsboro, Forest Grove, and Cornelius.
[13] Starr ran for Oregon's 1st Congressional District in 2000, defeating Alice Schlenker in the May primary with 62% of the vote compared to 38%.
[16] He had received support in his bid from Oregon business interests including Intel due to Wu's vote against free trade with China.
[19] Charles and Bruce were the first father-son tandem to serve at the same time in the history of the Oregon State Senate.
[22] At the time, Starr was chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and in June 2003 his lawn was filled with plastic pink flamingos paid for by a fundraising campaign at a local elementary school.
[24] In the May 2006 Republican primary, Charles lost to Larry George who would then win the general election in November, and joined his own father in the Senate.
[20][25] The loss was attributed in part to Starr's voting record that included raising taxes, with an anti-tax group contributing $50,000 to his opponent during the election.
[27] He also came out against dual-language immersion programs over concerns that teachers were not properly trained and students would not be able to learn to read at an early age.