Politics heats up in Minnesota’s Bemidji-area House race

It’s clear that the two candidates in the Minnesota District 2A House race don’t like each other very much.

At the recent Red Lake Nation Candidate Fair held at the Oshky Imager Tadav community center in Red Lake, DFL’s Reid Olson echoed Republican newcomer Vidal Duran’s closing remarks from a televised debate a few days earlier. talked about the suspicions.

Just before the session adjourned, Mr. Duran accused Mr. Olson of being a member of the ultra-progressive caucus led by Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar. Olson said she was furious. He likened the comment to a dog siren rather than a dog whistle.

“It was just racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, racist,” Olson said. “And he did it on purpose at the end of the debate, when he didn’t have a chance to rebut me.”

In January, Olson won the support of the Red Lake Nation, which he believes will be the key to victory. The relationship stems from a 2018 traffic stop in Bemidji that ended with Duran shooting and killing Red Lake Nation resident Vernon May, who was armed at the time. Probably not, he said.

“The fact that he would run for tribal representative is so insensitive and completely incomprehensible,” Olson said. “There’s a lot he can do. He doesn’t have to run to represent Red Lake.”

Duran was cleared of any wrongdoing.

“If an opponent is promoting this in any way, shame on him,” Duran said. “If he wants to promote it as something that benefits Native Americans, great!”

open seat

It’s a complicated race in a complicated place. This district includes both Bemidji and Red Lake. The seat is vacant after four-term incumbent Republican Matt Grossell announced his retirement.

Both candidates say they will bring valuable experience to the job.

“We’re in the basement office of the new day center,” Olson said as he gave a tour of the workplace. “The New Day Center is a daytime homeless shelter that is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. One of my favorite things is celebrating Christmas here. is.”

Olson is a small business owner and executive director of the Nameless Coalition for the Homeless. He said his experience as a former Bemidji City Councilman and Beltrami County Commission member makes him a perfect fit for the open House 2A seat. He advocates for better housing, child care and expanded access to local health services.

“These are things that are very important to Bemidji, Beltrami County. But then we found out that this actually impacts the entire state and the entire district,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons we want to come to St. Paul to find statewide solutions to statewide problems.”

Duran is a Marine veteran with combat experience in Afghanistan. He then spent multiple years as a law enforcement officer, including eight and a half years with the Bemidji Police Department and several years with the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office.

Duran said his experience will help him effectively represent Beltrami County, especially after the White House Office of National Drug Policy recently designated Beltrami County as a high-intensity drug trafficking area (HIDTA).

“I’m an honest, hard-working person, just like the people here in northern Minnesota,” he said. “I believe in a lot of things that northern Minnesotans believe in: lower taxes, public safety, educating our children, and that’s what I’m doing.”

But Mr. Duran has garnered attention for decisions he made during his time as a law enforcement officer. In 2023, he was reprimanded by a judge in a memorandum that said Duran “intentionally or recklessly misrepresented the truth.”

The judge took offense at two search warrants Duran sought after a 2022 traffic stop that resulted in a large seizure of drugs and cash. That drug case was later dropped. Duran said the judge never spoke to him directly about any concerns.

“He just wrote down his feelings and his perceptions, and that’s an assumption. It’s all speculation on his part,” Duran said. “And you know, he never got the facts right.”

A subsequent investigation conducted by Becker County investigators uncovered Mr. Duran’s wrongdoing.

Then, in the fall of 2023, Duran received a written reprimand for turning off his body camera while questioning someone. He said he turned off the cameras to prevent individuals from sharing sensitive information. Duran said he knew the man from his time working for the Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force.

“If you want to know the truth, I did violate policy. I removed myself from the body-worn camera to speak to this person,” Duran said. “As a matter of fact, someone was found who was overdosing because of my actions. So, in the end, like I said, I think I’m going to take my lumps out of this.”

political reality

Patrick Donay, a political science professor at Bemidji State University, said he doesn’t think Duran’s personal history will cost him the race. Donay said DFL Olson faces a tough road in this deep red district.

“This district is impossible for any Democrat to run,” Donay said. “And it would take a very large margin and a large turnout in Bemidji to make up for the deep red areas in other parts of the district.”

In the 2022 election, every Republican running for federal and state office won by a margin of about 10 points.

Donay added that outside spending in the district is limited.

“We don’t see any or very little of that in this race,” he said. “This tells me to me that the forces vying for control of the Minnesota House of Representatives don’t see 2A as a place to vote.”

However, Olson disputes this analysis. He said only about 45% of DFLers showed up to vote in the last election. Olson claims he will win if that number reaches 70 to 75 percent.