Olson Hosts Campaign Kickoff Event April 9 in Beltrami County

Two years after losing the Minnesota House District 2A seat to Republican Bidal Duran by a narrow margin, Reed Olson will formally launch his 2026 campaign at a community kickoff event April 9 in Beltrami County. The event is open to district residents spanning from Bemidji north to Baudette, across a district that covers the majority of Beltrami County, all of Lake of the Woods County, and the northern portion of Clearwater County.

Olson, a former two-term Beltrami County Commissioner and the executive director of Bemidji's Nameless Coalition for the Homeless, is running as a DFL candidate. His platform centers on three pressures he argues define daily life across north-central Minnesota: housing affordability, child care access, and rural mental health services. At the DFL caucus held at Bemidji Middle School in February, he named all three priorities while acknowledging the broader political climate, telling Ward 4 residents, "Given what's happening in the state right now, it's hard to focus on those normal issues because these are not normal times."

On housing, Olson has called for removing "burdensome regulations and overly restrictive zoning laws that impede the creation of more housing" across rural communities. His work with the Nameless Coalition, which operates two emergency shelters in Bemidji, gives him direct exposure to the consequences when affordable housing falls short. He has also pledged to expand rural child care access and build out behavioral health infrastructure to reach residents before, as he has put it, they end up cycling through the criminal justice system.

The April 9 event arrives nine days before the Beltrami County DFL endorsing convention, set for April 18. Olson, who also served four years on the Bemidji City Council before his time on the county board, has argued consistently that the district's challenges now demand action at the state level. "After 10 years in local elected office, I have worked on the challenges facing our communities," he said. "I believe these issues require statewide solutions."

The 2024 race for the open 2A seat was one of the most competitive in the region, with Duran's win drawing statewide attention in a district that trends Republican. Olson's return sets up what could be another closely watched contest when the district heads to the polls in November.