Democrats in the Oregon Senate appoint Kathleen Taylor of Portland as new party leader

Democrats in the Oregon Senate on Monday elected Portland Senator Kathleen Taylor, who played a key role in negotiations to end the Republican election deficit in 2023, as their next caucus leader.

Taylor will replace Sen. Kate Lieber, a Democrat from Beaverton, who is leaving her position as House caucus leader to become the new co-chair of the Joint Budget Committee. Both changes, which take effect July 15, follow the resignation of current Budget Committee co-chair Elizabeth Steiner (D-Portland), who now plans to focus on her campaign for state treasurer.

“I am grateful to Senator Lieber for her service and for leading the Senate Democratic Caucus to deliver great victories for the people of Oregon,” Taylor said in a statement. “I am ready to get to work so we can continue to move our state in the right direction.”

Senator Janeen Sollman (D-Hillsboro) also competed for the position of House Majority Leader. She remains Deputy Majority Leader. Majority Leaders Sara Gelser Blouin of Corvallis and Lew Frederick of Portland, as well as Deputy Majority Leaders Kayse Jama of Portland and Wilsvey Campos of Aloha, complete the Democratic leadership team in the Senate.

Taylor served one term in the House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2016. She chairs the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee and has focused much of her work on labor law, including passing paid family sick leave and updating Oregon’s equal pay laws.

In 2023, her friendship with then-Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp proved crucial in ending a six-week deadlock that prevented the Senate from passing any legislation. Taylor stepped in to help negotiate an end to the Senate Republicans’ walkout after earlier efforts failed.

Lieber called Taylor’s election “an exciting moment for our caucus and the entire state” and said she knew Taylor would build on her recent successes.

“Chair-elect Taylor brings a wealth of knowledge and skills to this office, and I am confident she will be the strong, capable leader Oregonians need in the Senate,” Lieber said. “I am so proud of what we have accomplished as a caucus over the past two years – from making major investments in growing our economy to tackling pressing issues like homelessness and the drug crisis. I know Chair-elect Taylor will build on these accomplishments and take us even further,”

As chairman, Taylor will play a key role in running coordinated campaigns and setting and defending the caucus’ priorities in 2025. Senate Democrats hope to win two more seats in contested districts in Bend and along the Central Coast currently held by Republicans, while also defending Senator Chris Gorsek’s potentially close district in eastern Multnomah County.

The change means that House Minority Leader Jeff Helfrich, a Hood River Republican who took the reins last September, will be the longest-serving House leader.

House Democrats chose Rep. Ben Bowman of Tigard as their new leader in March after former Majority Leader Julie Fahey of Eugene ascended to speaker, and Senate Republicans chose Daniel Bonham of The Dalles in April because former leader Tim Knopp (R-Bend) is barred from running for re-election after leading a six-week strike in 2023. Bonham is also barred from running again due to a state constitutional amendment that prohibits lawmakers with 10 or more unexcused absences from running again, but his term runs through 2027.

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Julia Shumway is deputy editor of the Oregon Capital Chronicle and has covered government and politics in Iowa and Nebraska, worked for the Bend Bulletin, and most recently was a legislative reporter for the Arizona Capitol Times in Phoenix. An award-winning journalist, Julia most recently covered the tangled effort to verify the results of the presidential election in Arizona.