As Utah's only Democrat to hold a federal office and nominal leader of the state's Democratic Party, Rep. Jim Matheson believes he should have a pretty big say in who the next state party chairman will be: He's picking longtime labor leader Wayne Holland Jr.

This spring's state Democratic Party convention, where new party officers will be picked for two-year terms, could be an interesting fight as one-term chairman Donald Dunn steps down.

Matheson told the Deseret Morning News' editorial board Thursday that as the leading Democratic officeholder in the state, he should have some sway and say in who the next party chairman is.

And, ironically enough, this convention battle will see a switch in positions for the well-respected Matheson family from its 1989 party involvement.

This year a well-known Matheson backs steelworker union leader Holland.

In 1989, the late Gov. Scott M. Matheson, Rep. Matheson's father, and other family members played a key role in the party-chairmanship standoff between former state Rep. Kelly Atkinson — who was backed by the labor wing of the party — and Peter Billings Jr. — backed by the Mathesons and a more well-heeled, upper-crust part of the party.

Billings won, but bad feelings remained in the party for several years.

State AFL-CIO president Ed Mayne, now a Democratic state senator, back then gave the Billings/Matheson wing of the party the moniker "the white wine and Mercedes set."

"I can say with certainty that (labor) will back Wayne," Mayne said Thursday. Reflecting on 1989, Mayne said: "Yeah, I don't know how we did that" — meaning be on the same side in a chairmanship race as the Mathesons.

"I support Wayne," Rep. Matheson said earlier in the day to newspaper editors. "He is all about winning elections, and so am I."

Even though his 2nd Congressional District is nearly 60 percent Republican in general voting preferences, Matheson has won the district twice since the Legislature redistricted him in 2001 into eastern and southern Utah, confounding GOP state leaders.

Nine people have filed to be chairman, Dunn said Thursday, although some may get out of the race before the May 7 convention.

Those who have filed besides Holland include former state Attorney General Paul Van Dam, current party vice chair Nancy Jane Woodside, and Craig Axford, a former leader in the state's Green Party who helped form a Democratic Progressive Caucus two years ago.

Traditionally, incumbent major officeholders have a say in who the state party chairman will be during their re-election years.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who is running in 2006, for example, backs the re-election of state GOP chairman Joe Cannon this year.