State 2A House race pits sheriff's deputy who was terminated against Bemidji homeless shelter director

BEMIDJI, MINN. – The GOP candidate running for an open state House of Representatives seat in northern Minnesota was recently terminated as a sheriff's deputy.

His DFL opponent questions whether that makes him unfit for elected office, especially given that his truthfulness as a deputy was called into question when a judge admonished him for lying on a search warrant, and he was reprimanded for turning off his body-worn camera.

Bidal Duran, 39, formerly with the Hubbard County Sheriff's Office and the Bemidji Police Department, seeks to maintain Republican control over House District 2A, which covers Lake of the Woods County, portions of Beltrami and Clearwater counties and the Red Lake Reservation.

Reed Olson, 48, a restaurant owner and homeless shelter director in Bemidji who served on the City Council and Beltrami County Board of Commissioners, is hoping to flip the seat blue for the first time in a decade.

Rep. Matt Grossell, R-Clearbrook, is not seeking re-election after pleading guilty last year to drunken driving. This followed a drunken arrest in 2019 that got Grossell, a former sheriff's deputy, ousted from the House's Public Safety and Judiciary committees.

Duran believes that law enforcement should have a bigger voice at the Capitol. And he's not alone. The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association said there are eight law enforcement officers running for state House, which they say is a record.

"I think it's because public safety is a top issue for voters," said MPPOA spokesperson Leslie Rosedahl. "And police officers are community- and service-focused, which ties into wanting to serve and represent their communities at the Capitol."

But Olson and his supporters are concerned with Duran's time as a Bemidji police officer. Duran fatally shot Vernon May, 34, of Red Lake, during a 2018 traffic stop. Duran was cleared of criminal charges as May was armed, but the killing provoked tensions and protests.

Olson said Red Lake is expected to turn out in record numbers in November, not only in response to Duran.

"With Anishinaabe voters, knowing that when Walz and Kamala win, we will have an Ojibwe governor [Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan], that is really powerful," Olson said. "So I think that will help motivate people to get out and vote. ... When Red Lake gets out and votes, Democrats win. When Bemidji turns out, we win."

Duran's tenure as a sheriff's deputy and narcotics investigator with the Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force is also under scrutiny from opponents after a Hubbard County judge admonished Duran for lying about the existence of a confidential informant on a search warrant affidavit last year.

District Judge Eric Schieferdecker ruled that Duran's conduct "could be insidious and has hopefully not spread to other officers." He said it is "inexcusable to answer dishonestly" and questioned Duran's credibility because he initially withheld information on the confidential informant. That was revealed months later when a second search warrant request was denied. Charges were dropped against two suspected meth traffickers as a result.

"It calls into question my integrity. It calls into question my truthfulness," Duran said in a recent interview. "It calls into question my character. It calls into question a lot of things and I take that stuff very personal. ... As peace officers, the one thing that once you lose you can rarely get back is your credibility."

Duran said that he got bad legal advice from the prosecutor's office. Hubbard County Attorney Jonathan Frieden said he disagrees with Duran's characterization.

"It's not bad legal advice to tell a special agent that getting a search warrant to obtain more evidence is helpful," Frieden said. "I understand [Duran] was pretty angry about the judge's order, so I'm not surprised that he was blaming his attorney in the case."

However, Frieden said the case should not reflect on Duran's fitness for office.

"It's an unfortunate situation, but I don't look at him better or worse as a result of it. ... I wouldn't say that it goes to his fitness at all," Frieden said. "In the context of knowing this case, it doesn't rise to a level that makes me concerned of his truthfulness."

A review of the incident by the Becker County Sheriff's Office found that Duran didn't violate department policy, according to a copy of the investigation provided to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

The Star Tribune received from Hubbard County an unrelated reprimand letter from last September when Duran twice turned off his body camera while talking to a citizen. An assisting deputy said he gave the citizen a "tongue lashing." The citizen said Duran was yelling and threatening them with jail if they didn't answer questions. Duran's actions didn't "instill such trust or community cooperation, rather it has the opposite effect," the reprimand letter said.

Hubbard County also provided a redacted copy of Duran's termination letter. His termination was effective Aug. 30, and Sheriff Cory Aukes clarified in an email that Duran was terminated; he didn't resign. Duran joined the agency in the summer of 2020.

Duran said he had been pursuing early medical retirement for the past nine months, and after exhausting his medical leave, he was terminated. He said that there is nothing preventing him from holding office and that he's "looking to serve my community in a different capacity than what I have before."

Olson said that, without knowing the full details of Duran's departure, it's reasonable for voters to be "curious as to whether or not he is capable of pursuing this position if he's so recently taking medical leave and it's causing him to not be able to do his job."

Both candidates are no strangers to the campaign trail, though this is the first time Duran is running for state office. He ran unsuccessfully for Beltrami County sheriff in 2022. That same year, Olson lost to Grossell.

Before this, Olson championed a redistricting plan for Beltrami County that a fellow commissioner took to court in a lawsuit settled earlier this year. Olson was accused of gerrymandering two GOP-aligned commissioners into the same seat. A judge called for an independent group to redraw the map.

He also took heat as a commissioner in 2020 when he voted in favor of Beltrami County welcoming refugees. He was outnumbered, and the county instead became the first in Minnesota to reject refugee resettlement.

"It was the right vote. We're good people. We take care of each other," said Olson, who opened a Bemidji homeless shelter in 2016. His nonprofit, Nameless Coalition for the Homeless, also operates a new daytime resource center.

"I'm very, very proud of my record as a county commissioner. The refugee vote, the redistricting, I would do that all over again," Olson said. "No hesitation, no apologies."

The candidates will face off in a debate Oct. 7 on Lakeland PBS starting at 7 p.m., followed by the House District 2B debate between Republican Rep. Matt Bliss and DFLer Michael Reyes.