DFL Rural Caucus backs Beltrami County historical society leader for House race

The DFL Rural Caucus has endorsed Emily Thabes, the executive director of the Beltrami County Historical Society, for Minnesota House District 2B, putting a Bagley-based nonprofit leader into a contest that will test whether local institution-building can translate into votes in one of northwest Minnesota’s most spread-out districts. Thabes is challenging Republican Rep. Matt Bliss, who is seeking a fifth term.

Thabes has worked at the historical society since 2021, and the caucus says she brings 20 years of experience across corporate, public and nonprofit sectors. Her campaign draws on that mix of management and partnership work, including leading teams, managing budgets and building relationships across jurisdictions. In a county where the historical society works with tribal nations, county agencies and community partners, that background gives Thabes a profile built more on administration and coalition work than on partisan politics.

District 2B covers portions of Becker, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Hubbard, Itasca and Mahnomen counties. It has an estimated population of 41,165 spread across 3,746.5 square miles, about 11 people per square mile. That geography makes turnout, local organizing and name recognition especially important, and it helps explain why Democrats are elevating a candidate with a long record in the region rather than a newcomer with a purely partisan appeal.

The Beltrami County DFL also backed Thabes at an endorsing convention in Redby, where 128 delegates endorsed three challengers in key local races. The DFL Environmental Caucus has said Thabes supports protections for clean water and wild rice and the rights of tribal communities within the district, positions that fit a campaign terrain shaped by natural resources, rural services and tribal issues. Thabes announced her candidacy on March 13, 2026.

With the filing period for Minnesota’s 2026 state general election now closed, the race is moving toward the August 11 primary and the November 3 general election. Bliss first won the seat in 2016, lost it in 2018 and returned to the House in 2020. The matchup now reflects a broader question for Democrats in rural Minnesota: whether a leader known for county-level partnerships and public programming can become the kind of candidate who holds together a district this large.