The new chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon (DPO) wants to build on the party’s relationship with organized labor.
Nathan Soltz was elected chair by the DPO’s State Central Committee on March 16, becoming the youngest chair in the group’s history at 27 years old.
Soltz has worked in the state legislature for a decade, serving as chief of staff to State Senator Lew Frederick (D-Portland) for the past five years.
Soltz was one of the initial leaders of an effort to unionize among Oregon legislative staffers, who voted to join IBEW Local 89 in 2021. As a high school student in 2014, he joined his teachers out on the picket line during the 16-day Medford teachers strike.
Soltz has also served as DPO secretary and chair of the state party’s Jewish Caucus and Latino Caucus.
Soltz said the DPO already has a strong relationship with labor. DPO staff are unionized. The party uses union printers and event spaces. Around one-third of its delegation to the 2024 Democratic National Convention was union-affiliated. And the DPO’s labor caucus is a strong component of the state party, Soltz said. The state party also supported the UFCW strike at Fred Meyer in 2024 and the nurses strike at Providence earlier this year.
“The DPO does have a good relationship with unions, but that doesn’t mean that there’s not room for us to strengthen and foster stronger relationships in an active and organized way,” Soltz told the Labor Press. “I want to be sure that labor knows that we’re there with them for more than just when it comes to elections, and that whenever they need us there, we’ll be there.”
In his new role, Soltz said he intends to meet with unions to learn what issues they want DPO support on, and what that support should look like.
