Why is 持 in the sentence 这些持反对意见的员工表示，……? I read a short news article about Microsoft's internal attitude towards a Tiktok purchase, wherein there is this sentence:

这些持反对意见的员工表示，这可能是他们入职微软以来首次怀疑公司采取措施的正确性。
微软六成员工反对收购TikTok 支持盖茨想法，2020年08月11日

It means something like

[My translation:] These employees with oppositional ideas express [that] this might be the first time since they started employment at Microsoft that they doubt the correctness of the company's adopted measures.

I don't understand why 持 is in this sentence.  It's a bit contradictory since 持 is part of 支持 = &quot;support&quot; while 反对 = &quot;oppose&quot;.
Question: Why is 持 in this sentence?
持, here, is shortened form of 持有.
持 has a definition on MDBG that reads:

to hold

持有 is defined on MDBG as:

to hold (passport, views etc)

You, correctly, translated it as with, which also works here.

Another term that might help you wrap your mind around this term and usage is the word:
持方
CedPane defines it as:

side (in debate)