Bemidji city council filing opens for three seats, four candidates file
Four candidates had filed for Bemidji’s three council seats, including a former 24-year council member challenging for at-large as the June 2 deadline neared.
Four names were already on Bemidji’s 2026 city election list as the filing deadline approached: Josh Peterson in Ward 2, Emilie Rivera in Ward 4, Audrey Thayer for at-large and former council member Ron Johnson for at-large. The filing window runs through June 2, and city offices are taking candidacies at City Hall, 317 4th Street NW, during business hours with extended filing time until 5 p.m. on June 2.
The race matters because these three seats will help steer the city’s next four years of decisions on taxes, infrastructure, public safety and development. The at-large seat carries citywide reach, representing all five wards in Bemidji, while the Ward 2 and Ward 4 contests will put neighborhood-specific priorities in front of the council. The next council will also inherit immediate issues already on the city’s desk, including storm-related damage deadlines, permits and planning cases tied to ongoing construction and land use questions.
Peterson, Rivera and Thayer are the incumbents in the three seats on the ballot. Johnson’s entry makes the at-large race the sharpest early contest of the cycle, pitting a sitting council member against a longtime former lawmaker with deep institutional memory. Johnson served 24 years on the Bemidji City Council, representing Ward 3 from 2001 to 2024, and he could not run for that seat in 2024 after redistricting changed the ward boundaries.
To file, candidates must complete an Affidavit of Candidacy, show proof of residency and pay a $5 filing fee. Ward 2 and Ward 4 candidates must live in their respective wards, while the at-large seat is open to citywide voters and covers every ward in the city. The city clerk’s office is handling the filing process.
The 2026 election calendar is already set beyond the filing period. If needed, Bemidji’s primary will be Tuesday, Aug. 11, followed by the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Early in-person absentee voting for the primary runs from June 26 through Aug. 10 at the Beltrami County Auditor-Treasurer’s Office, 701 Minnesota Avenue NW, Suite 220, in Bemidji.
Bemidji’s council meetings are held at City Hall, and the next term will be shaped by how the new lineup approaches the city’s most immediate service and growth questions. With Northern Township also set to become a city in 2027, Beltrami County is heading into a period of municipal change that makes this year’s Bemidji filing list an early marker of who will help set the pace.
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