Solomon Yue Jr. (, born May 8, 1959) is an American Republican Party activist and businessperson. He is the founder and vice chairman and CEO of

Republicans Overseas Republicans Overseas (RO) is a political organization created in 2013 for United States citizens who are living outside of the United States. RO is recognized by the Republican National Committee (RNC), and by other affiliated groups, such as Co ...

and a Republican national committeeman from

Oregon Republican Party The Oregon Republican Party is the U.S. state, state affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), United States Republican Party in Oregon, headquartered in Salem, Oregon, Salem. The party was established in the Oregon Territory in Februar ...

Early life and business activities

Yue was born in China and immigrated from China to the United States in 1980.Zachary Petrizzo
RNC Members Accuse Fellow Member of Being a Chinese Spy—Just Because He's Chinese
''Daily Beast'' (September 3, 2022). He is a medical equipment wholesaler, based in

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, w ...

.Jeff Mapes
Oregon's Yue in middle of RNC leadership fight
''The Oregonian''/OregonLive (January 6, 2009).Jeff Mapes

''The Oregonian''/OregonLive (May 26, 2010).

Republican Party activities

Since 2000,Shane Goldmacher & Alex Isenstadt
RNC member accuses party of 'institutional tyranny'
''Politico'' (April 18, 2016). Yue has been a

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

member from Oregon. As a Republican committeeman, Yue is part of the party's right wing, closely allied with the archconservative Jim Bopp, an Indiana RNC committeeman.Jeff Mapes
GOP fights over labeling Democrats as Socialists
''The Oregonian''/OregonLive (April 23, 2009). In 2009, Yue and Bopp co-founded an RNC "conservative steering committee" and co-drafted a resolution that accused Republican President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

of supporting "socialism" by endorsing the federal rescue of the financial industry and

auto industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, repairing, and modification of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industrie ...

, and criticized then

President-elect An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Un ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

for his economic stimulus plan. Yue also criticized Bush for his support of the

Medicare Part D Medicare (United States), Medicare Part D, also called the Medicare prescription drug benefit, is an optional United States federal-government program to help Medicare beneficiaries pay for self-administered prescription drugs. Part D was enact ...

prescription-drug benefit. Yue later supported an RNC resolution that would require Republicans candidates to meet a

purity test A purity test is a self-graded survey that assesses the participants' supposed degree of innocence in worldly matters (sex, drugs, deceit, and other activities assumed to be vices), generally on a percentage scale with 100% being the most and 0% ...

before obtaining party support, and another resolution in 2009 that claimed that the Democratic Party was "dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals" and sought to require Republicans to label the Democratic Party as a "socialist" party. Yue clashed with RNC chairman

Michael Steele Michael Stephen Steele (born October 19, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator who served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007 and as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) f ...

and

chairman

Bob Tiernan Bob Tiernan (born May 24, 1955) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Oregon House of Representatives from January 1993 to January 1997, representing Oregon's 24th House district, in the earl ...

, who opposed many of his proposals. Yue and Bopp spearheaded an internal party fight to oust Steele from the national chairmanship. In 2010, Tiernan accused Yue of stirring up discord within the RNC and Oregon Republican Party; Yue, in turn, accused Tiernan of requiring "absolute loyalty." Yue was a delegate to the

2008 Republican National Convention The 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008. The first day of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's convention fell on Labo ...

, where he praised the party's ticket of

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

and

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nomi ...

. In the

2012 Republican presidential primaries Voters of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party elected state delegations to the 2012 Republican National Convention in presidential primaries. The national convention then selected its nominee to run for President of the Unit ...

, he endorsed

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

, and was a

superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is a delegate to a presidential nominating convention who is seated automatically. In Democratic National Conventions, superdelegates—described in formal party rules as the party leaders and electe ...

to the

2012 Republican National Convention The 2012 Republican National Convention was a gathering held by the Republican Party (United States), U.S. Republican Party during which Delegate (American politics), delegates officially nominated former Governor of Massachusetts, Massachuset ...

. In April 2016, as a member of the

's rules committee, Yue proposed a change to the party's procedural rules that would make it more difficult for Republican leaders to place in nomination, at the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party (United States), Republican Party chose the party's nominees for President of the United States, president and Vice President of the United Sta ...

, the name of a candidate not already in the race. The debate over the proposal occurred as

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

battled for the presidential nomination, raising the prospect of a

contested convention In United States politics, a brokered convention (sometimes referred to as an open convention and closely related to a contested convention) occurs when no candidate is nominated on the first ballot of a party's United States presidential nominati ...

.Jonathan Martin
Republicans Reject Effort to Alter Rules on Allowing New Candidate at Convention
''New York Times'' (April 21, 2016). Yue wrote a 1,300-word email accusing RNC Chairman

Reince Priebus Reinhold Richard "Reince" Priebus ( ; born March 18, 1972) is an American politician, attorney, and naval officer who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2011 to 2017 and as White House chief of staff during the first s ...

and other party leaders of "institutional tyranny" over their opposition to his proposal. The rules committee rejected Yue's proposal to change the rules. After Trump became the

presumptive nominee Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...

of the Republican Party, Yue maneuvered to ensure Trump's nomination at the convention over the last-ditch objection of anti-Trump Republican holdouts. After a

pro-Trump Trumpism, also referred to as the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, is the political movement and political ideology, ideology behind U.S. president Donald Trump and his political base. It comprises ideologies such as right-wing p ...

mob attacked the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 in a failed insurrection, Yue and most other Republican Party figures remained loyal to Trump, and sponsored a state Republican party resolution condemning the ten House Republicans who voted in favor of Trump's impeachment. Yue played a key role in getting the Oregon Republican Party to adopt a resolution claiming that the storming of the Capitol was a "false flag" intended "to discredit President Trump, his supporters, and all conservative Republicans." In March 2021, Yue also appeared on a YouTube show hosted by Greyson Arnold, who has praised

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and espoused racism and anti-Semitism; on the show, Yue said that far-right and white nationalist activist

Nick Fuentes Nicholas Joseph Fuentes (born August 18, 1998) is an American Far-right politics, far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * Pundit, political pundit, activist, and Online streamer, live streamer who promotes White supremacy, white supremacist, Hom ...

should have a role in picking Republican candidates. After his appearance attracted scrutiny, Yue said that he was unaware of the views of Arnold and Fuentes at the time of his appearance on the show.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yue, Solomon 1959 births Living people Politicians from Shanghai American people of Chinese descent Oregon Republicans Businesspeople from Oregon Businesspeople from Shanghai Republican National Committee members Asian conservatism in the United States