Nathan Joseph Soltz is an American politician serving as the Chair of the

Democratic Party of Oregon The Democratic Party of Oregon is the Oregon affiliate of the Democratic Party. The State Central Committee, made up of two delegates elected from each of Oregon's 36 counties and one additional delegate for every 15,000 registered Democrats, is ...

. Before becoming party chair, Soltz ran for Salem City Council in 2024 but lost to real estate broker Shane Matthews by 42 votes. He also worked as legislative staff for various state senators:

Alan Bates Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the Cinema of the United Kingdom#The 1960s, 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from ''Whistle Down the Wind (film), Whistle Down ...

in 2016, Lew Frederick in 2017-2019, and

Jeff Golden Jeffrey Simon Golden (born April 24, 1950) is a political activist, radio personality, politician, and author from Southern Oregon. His commentary and political leaning are progressive. He is the producer and host of the regional PBS serieImmen ...

in 2019. He has served as Frederick's chief of staff since 2019.

Biography

Soltz is Jewish. His mother is an immigrant from El Salvador whose biological father was Japanese, and Soltz's father is of Jewish ancestry. He is

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

. He has philosophy and psychology degrees from

Western Oregon University Western Oregon University (WOU) is a public university in Monmouth, Oregon, United States. It was originally established in 1856 by Disciples of Christ pioneers as Monmouth University. Subsequent names included Oregon State Normal School, Oreg ...

, where he participated in student government and led the student senate to be the first in the state to endorse ballot measures. He founded the Oregon Democratic Jewish Caucus. In 2012, he volunteered with Oregon United for Marriage to overturn the state's ban on same-sex marriage, and he volunteered on Bates' 2014 state senate campaign. He is noted for his young age; at 19 he was Oregon's youngest-ever Democratic National Convention delegate in the

2016 Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 to 28, 2016. The convention gathered delegates of the Democratic Party, the maj ...

and the youngest ever presidential elector in the 2020 election aged 23. He is supportive of labor unions, leading the creation of the Oregon State Legislature's first-in-the-nation staff union and attending strikes with his high school teachers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soltz, Nathan 1990s births Living people Politicians from Salem, Oregon Jewish American people in Oregon politics State political party chairs of Oregon American LGBTQ politicians Asian-American people in Oregon politics American politicians of Salvadoran descent Hispanic and Latino American people in Oregon politics Western Oregon University alumni