Solomon Yue

An immigrant from China, Yue became a businessman in the United States, based in Salem, Oregon.[4][5]

Since 2000,[6] Yue has been a Republican National Committee member from Oregon.[4][6] He is 10th in seniority among the 168 members of the RNC. As a Republican National Committeeman, Yue is known as a staunchly conservative grassroots supporter. In 2009, with attorney Jim Bopp, an Indiana RNC committeeman,[4][7]they co-founded the RNC "conservative steering committee" and co-drafted a resolution against Republican President George W. Bush's endorsement of the federal rescue of the financial industry and auto industry, and criticized then President-elect Barack Obama for his economic stimulus plan.[4] Yue criticized Bush for his support of the Medicare Part D prescription-drug benefit.[4] Yue later supported an RNC resolution that would require Republican candidates to meet a purity test before obtaining party support,[5] and another resolution in 2009 that claimed that the Democratic Party was "dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals"[7] and sought to require Republicans to label the Democratic Party as a "socialist" party.[5]

Yue clashed with RNC chairman Michael Steele and Oregon Republican Party chairman Bob Tiernan, who was known in Republican circles as Steele’s attack dog.[7][5] Yue and Bopp spearheaded an internal party fight to oust Steele from the national chairmanship after Steele was caught using donor funds to take staffers to a California lesbian bondage-themed strip club.[8] [9][10]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."[5]

Yue was a delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention, where he praised the party's ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin.[11] He was Oregon superdelegate to the 2012 Republican National Convention, pledged, in accordance to Oregon state law, to Mitt Romney.[12]

In April 2016, as a member of the Republican National Committee'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 name of a candidate not already in the race. The debate over the proposal occurred as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz battled for the presidential nomination, raising the prospect of a contested convention.[6][13] Yue wrote a 1,300-word email accusing RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and other party leader of "institutional tyranny" over their opposition to his proposal.[6] The rules committee rejected Yue's proposal to change the rules.[13] Yue maneuvered to ensure Trump's nomination at the convention over the last-ditch objection of anti-Trump Republican holdouts.[14][15]

After a pro-Donald Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, 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.[16][17] 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."[18] In March 2021, Yue also appeared on a YouTube show hosted by Greyson Arnold, who has praised Nazi Germany and espoused racism and anti-Semitism; on the show, Yue said activist Nick Fuentes could one day have a role in picking Republican candidates.[17] 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.[17]

In 2022, Yue was the Chief Sponsor of the RNC's Resolution in Support of Taiwan[19] and the Resolution to Hold China Accountable for COVID-19.[20]