DFL Rural Caucus backs Reed Olson for House District 2A race

The DFL Rural Caucus put its backing behind Reed Olson in Minnesota House District 2A, a northwestern swing seat that includes Bemidji, Red Lake, portions of Beltrami and Clearwater counties, and all of Lake of the Woods County.

That endorsement gives Olson another boost in a district where control has shifted in recent cycles and where party organizations are treating every county, precinct and reservation relationship as part of the fight. Olson is a Bemidji resident, former Bemidji City Council member and former Beltrami County commissioner who has lived in the city since 1999. He also founded the Wild Hare Bistro and the Nameless Coalition for the Homeless, and now serves as executive director of the coalition, which operates The Wolfe Shelter and the New Day Center in Bemidji.

Olson’s local-government record and nonprofit work point to the priorities he has been stressing again in his 2026 campaign: affordability, rural housing, mental health care, physical health care, childcare, education funding and access to public programs. Those issues map closely onto the daily pressures many District 2A voters feel in Bemidji, Red Lake and the smaller towns spread across the district, where the cost of housing, access to care and the availability of public services often matter as much as party labels.

The race also carries clear partisan stakes. Republican Bidal Duran holds the seat now and serves as assistant Republican leader in the Minnesota House. Olson previously ran for the seat in 2022 and 2024, losing to Matt Grossell in 2022 and to Duran in 2024. Olson said after last year’s race that he had fallen short by 850 votes, a margin that keeps Democrats and Republicans both watching the district closely.

District 2A has already shown how competitive it can be. Republicans won it by 9 percentage points in 2022, but Olson’s support from the Red Lake Nation in 2024 signaled that Native issues and relationships can shape the outcome in a district that includes both Bemidji and Red Lake. The DFL Environmental Caucus has also endorsed Olson for 2026, describing him as a candidate to flip a Republican-held swing seat.

Olson launched his 2026 campaign at Brigid’s Pub in downtown Bemidji and was later named Minnesota State co-chair for U.S. Term Limits. With the DFL Rural Caucus now behind him, the campaign is moving beyond a local endorsement fight and into a broader test of whether Olson’s record in Bemidji and Beltrami County can translate into enough votes to reclaim District 2A.