(March 24)
By Tim McCann, DPO
PORTLAND – Oregon Democrats met virtually this past week to safely and securely cast their ballots to elect our Democratic Party of Oregon officers for the next two years. The DPO State Central Committee (SCC) re-elected Carla “KC” Hanson to another two-year term as Democratic Party of Oregon Chair. 
After helping Oregon Democrats to big victories up and down the ballot in 2020, Hanson is ready to keep leading the team at the DPO ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Hanson and the DPO will work to re-elect Senator Ron Wyden, elect a Democrat as our next Oregon Governor, re-elect our great Democratic Congressional delegation and elect a Democrat to a potential new sixth Oregon Congressional District, re-elect Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle, and win important races to build our Democratic majorities in the Oregon Legislature.
“I’m proud to be part of a team that reflects not just the diversity of our Party, but the diversity of America,” said Hanson. “The Democratic Party is committed to making people’s lives better. Whether you are an urban grocery worker or work the land in beautiful rural Oregon, Democrats are fighting for YOUR health care, YOUR kids’ education, and to make sure YOUR income provides you and your family a good life. Our Oregon Democratic Leadership team is driven by those ideals and more, and we’ll be working hard for you over the next two years and beyond.”
SCC members also elected Rosa Colquitt, PhD, and re-elected Pete Lee as the DPO’s Vice Chairs. 
Dr. Rosa Colquitt is the current Chair of the DPO’s Black Caucus, the DPO Budget Committee, and the DPO Racial Equity, Accountability and Leadership Committee, and is now the first Black woman elected to serve as DPO Vice Chair. 
“In 2020, Black women leaders across the country organized at the ground level, despite the difficulties of a COVID pandemic, to register voters, mobilize neighbors, use our voices, and most importantly, to use our vote to put a Democrat in the White House,” said Dr. Colquitt. “It was my privilege to coalesce with many of them in this national effort. In my bid to be elected as a DPO Vice Chair, the first Black woman leader to do so, I asked all members of our SCC delegation to join me in making some ‘good’ Oregon history. To my great joy, that’s exactly what they did! I am incredibly grateful, honored, and ready to get to work stirring up some ‘good trouble.’” 
Pete Lee will continue his role as the DPO’s Vice Chair Representative to the Democratic National Committee. He was first elected in 2019, and has served as an Executive Board Member on the DNC’s Environment & Climate Crisis Response Council. 
“Serving as DPO Vice Chair has been the most challenging and rewarding civic service role I’ve ever had.” said Lee. “I’m thrilled and honored to continue our work to fight for marginalized communities, advance bold and visionary policies to build back better and tackle the climate crisis, and strengthen the Democratic Party of Oregon’s connections to people, movements, and campaigns.”
Outgoing Vice Chair Michelle Risher presided over the elections. Risher did not run for re-election, having been elected as one of Oregon’s three Democratic National Committeemembers in December.
DPO Secretary Eileen Kiely also won re-election. A legislative candidate for Oregon House in 2018 and Oregon Senate in 2020, she also serves as Vice Chair of the Deschutes County Democratic Party, and has played an important role in turning Deschutes County blue.
“The work we do is not about one election, or one issue. Politics is a relay race, and we build on the people who came before us,” said Kiely. “I am excited to continue the work, and to represent the Eastern side of the Cascades in Party leadership as we represent all 36 counties in Oregon.”
The officers join DNC Members Travis Nelson, Matt Keating, and Michelle Risher on the DPO Administrative Committee. Eddy Morales serves as the current Democratic Party of Oregon Treasurer, a position that will be appointed by the Chair. We congratulate all of the Officers on their elections, and thank and commend all of the candidates for a well-run campaign and for being willing to serve and support Oregon Democrats.
In addition to our reorganization elections, the SCC unanimously approved a resolution submitted by the Democratic Party of Oregon’s Asian American & Pacific Islander Caucus condemning anti-Asian American & Pacific Islander hate and racism.
“The uptick of hate crimes and violence against Asian Americans, Pacific Islander, Immigrants, and Refugees, from our children to our elders, is nauseating,” said Chrissy Erguiza, Chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon Asian American & Pacific Islander Caucus. “We must all come together and denounce hate crimes in all forms and say enough is enough. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect – we all have a part to play to eradicate fear and hate with compassion, love, and understanding.”
The SCC also approved resolutions regarding Oregon forest management and taxation, reaffirming support for workers and labor unions in Oregon, and honoring essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The next DPO State Central Committee Meeting will be held in the 2nd quarter of the year.​​

By Rep. Marty Wilde
The American Rescue Plan (ARP) has some underreported benefits for healthcare affordability. Many self-employed or small businesspeople can’t afford health insurance on the open market, so they purchase insurance in the Marketplace, established by the Affordable Care Act. The “advanced premium tax credits” – or subsidies – available on the Marketplace could bring the premiums closer to affordability, but they were not enough to make effective health insurance truly affordable. The ARP made premiums much more affordable.
As you can see from the charts below, Marketplace coverage to date either covered only catastrophic events (bronze plans) or was too expensive for most folks (silver/gold plans). When you’re living close to the poverty line, or even at twice the official poverty line, you simply don’t have the money to pay for health insurance. The ARP changes that. For instance, under the old rules, a family of 4 making $53,000 a year – 200% of the federal poverty level– would have had to pay about $600 a month to cover two adults, plus deductibles and co-pays. Now that same family would pay about $180 a month. (The fee structure for their children is more generous under other laws.) The subsidies continue to be scaled appropriately as family income increases, avoiding some of the cliffs that formerly awaited families as income grew.
The advantages of affordable health insurance go beyond family budgets. By allowing a freer transition from paid employment to self-employment or entrepreneurship, they stimulate small business development and growth. These provisions will benefit Main Street businesses in every community.
Medicaid Expansion. In addition to boosting affordability in the Healthcare Marketplace, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) also provided more incentives for states that have not expanded Medicaid to do so. In Oregon, Medicaid expansion has been a tremendous success, but some states objected to the 10% cost-share required to be paid from state budgets. The ARP mitigates this concern by boosting the federal match rate in states that join in the expansion by 5%, which more than offsets the startup costs of the expansion. Let’s hope the 12 states that have not expanded access take the opportunity to help those in need receive healthcare.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your State Representative. I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me at [email protected] or 503-986-1411. 
Sincerely, Marty

The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Caucus of the Democratic Party of Oregon represents a diverse group of people who identify broadly as Asian. We stand with our siblings to condemn the continuing trend of violence and harm against innocent people. 

The news of the mass shooting in Atlanta has left us devastated, and has traumatized the AAPI community across the nation. The senseless violence that took place at Asian-owned businesses was clearly rooted in racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and white supremacy.
Today we collectively mourn and hold in our hearts the victims, among them six Asian American women whose lives were taken too soon; Daoyou Feng, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Hyun J. Grant, Suncha Kim, Soon C. Park, and Yong A. Yue must be remembered and honored. We must condemn not only the atrocity that occurred this past week but also condemn the stain of racism and sexism that contradict the doctrine and values our country professes.
The dramatic escalation of violence against Asians did not happen by accident. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Asian Americans have been scapegoated as the source and cause of the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and right-of-center politicians and right-wing media have cynically pushed racially charged rhetoric, resulting in violence. According to Stop AAPI Hate, over 3,800 AAPIs have reported hate and bias, 81.5% of AAPI youth reported being bullied or harassed, and there has been a staggering surge in hate crimes in the last year, with incidents increasing by nearly 150%. 
This recent surge in hate crimes and acts of violence follows centuries of systemic racism, from federal orders targeting immigrants of Asian descent in order to capitalize on xenophobic zeal such as the Chinese exclusion Act of 1882, to the Johnson-Reed Act (The Immigration Act) of 1924 completely excluding immigrants from Asia, to Executive Order 9066 that forced Japanese-Americans into internment camps in 1942, to nuclear weapons testing that exiled Pacific Islanders from their land and subsequently causing environmental and health defects to island residents (1946-1962).
Today, racially driven violence directed against Asian Americans is part of the larger context of the violence against immigrants, refugees, and communities of color. Regardless of where anti-AAPI racism exists in our communities, at this moment we must unite and rigorously work toward ending anti-AAPI hate and discrimination of all forms. 
We see you, we hear you, and we all belong here and deserve to exist with dignity and respect.
In Solidarity,
– The Democratic Party of Oregon Asian American & Pacific Islander Caucus

• Biden signs sweeping COVID relief legislation into law (March 11, CNN)

• Here's what's in the Senate stimulus plan (March 6, CNN)
• Schumer: Nobody said it would be easy, but it is done (March 6, CNN)
​• Sen. Jeff Merkley comments on passage of American Rescue Plan (March 6)
•  How Democrats miscalculated Manchin and later won him back (March 6, CNN)