Former U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Happy Valley, speaks during a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. 

When Oregon’s Lori Chavez-DeRemer goes before the U.S. Senate this week to seek confirmation as our nation’s secretary of labor it will signal a historic moment for Oregon and potentially a seismic shift in American politics.

The former Happy Valley mayor, and one-term Republican Congresswoman is poised to be only the third-ever White House cabinet secretary from Oregon. The last and only other Republican to do so in 1869 under President Ulysses S. Grant.

To say this appointment is a big deal for Oregon would be a massive understatement. Governors and senators literally give up their jobs to serve in the cabinet. Some angle for a year on presidential campaigns to earn a leather seat in the White House cabinet room.

Having an Oregonian in the cabinet is more than access, it could help reframe President Trump’s tone toward our state.

DeRemer, if confirmed, will be the closest advisor to the president on matters directly tied to the nation’s jobs — overseeing the release of the monthly jobs report. She’ll also enter the national fray on the hot button topic of immigration.

Oregon’s wineries and extensive agricultural producers depend on migrant laborers having safe access to work in our state.

The Silicon Forest from Hillsboro to Gresham and Vancouver to Corvallis rely on skilled worker visas for our state’s world-leading semiconductor sector.

At the Labor Department, Chavez-DeRemer, would be seen from day one as a voice of normalcy, a mind of reason, and a bridge of rationality between business and labor at a time when such traits are needed most.

If she is able to maintain that reputation within the Trump Cabinet, and better yet extend her voice throughout that circle or beyond, it could also be transformative for our nation’s politics — which in some ways her nomination already is.

As a mayor she was able to work well with unions, keep labor’s voice present in one of the more business friendly counties of Oregon. And in Congress, she was one of only a handful of Republicans to vote for the PRO Act, which overturned state Right to Work laws, and made it easier for workers to organize.

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien was an early Chavez-DeRemer supporter in part because of that vote. His speech at the Republican National Convention last year was the first for a union president since 1903 and shows times are changing. Eight Oregon unions endorsed Chavez DeRemer for labor secretary as well.

“This is a true political realignment,” Chavez DeRemer wrote. “We must continue to be the party of the American Worker.”

But will Oregon change too? Will Democrats embrace international trade and multinational businesses for their outsized role in our economy? Will Oregon Republicans try to connect more with local labor unions? A more competitive two-party system in Oregon depends on both doing so.

It was only 14 years ago under an evenly split State House that our elected leaders charted a course of rare bipartisanship, sharing committee power and avoiding a descent into gridlock despite their electoral deadlock.

Our national leaders could take a page from that Oregon playbook. And word is some have this month. Senators Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders (the top Democrat on the committee considering Chavez DeRemer’s nomination) were said to have given the Oregonian a very warm welcome in private meetings in the Senate. And a new West Coast House freshman progressive Democrat told me, “I’d like to meet her” in hopes of building up her own Republican relationships.

Such is the role Chavez-DeRemer could play in a Trump cabinet: an accessible bridge, and an open door for collaboration at the highest level.

When Oregonians talk about the Oregon way, this is the sort of pragmatic cooperation we mean, and we should be proud to see Chavez DeRemer bring that to this administration.

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