Emily Thabes

Emily Thabes earned a bachelor's degree from the West Virginia Wesleyan College, a graduate degree from Florida State University, and a graduate degree from Creighton University. Her career experience includes working as a nonprofit executive director.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am Emily Thabes. I live outside Bagley with my husband, who grew up there and works at TEAM Industries. I am the Executive Director of the Beltrami County Historical Society in Bemidji, where my work is helping this region keep and tell its own story. I grew up in rural West Virginia in a town smaller than Bagley, the daughter of a nurse practitioner, a teacher, and a career veteran. I hold a master's in library and information science and a master's in interdisciplinary leadership. I have led teams at Hennepin County Library and Rasmussen University, and I supported the fraud team at Capital One Bank. Once a librarian, always a librarian: my job has always been to meet people where they are, get them what they need, and rely on facts and evidence to make decisions.

I am running because at the beginning of this year we watched our neighbors terrorized and our children treated as pawns, and I could not sit with that. Rural people take care of each other. That is how we get through winters, harvests, and hard years, and it is what I expect from government too. We are obligated to one another and to this land, and so is our government. I am running with fierce joy and no apology to make that obligation real for the seven counties of 2B.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Every family in 2B should be able to find childcare and afford it. Right now parents drive an hour for a spot that costs more than their mortgage, employers cannot fill shifts because workers have no one to watch their kids, and providers earn too little to stay open. Universal childcare fixes all three at once. It lets parents work, lets local businesses hire, pays providers a living wage, and gives every child a strong start no matter where they live or what their parents earn. I will make stable state funding for childcare, in home-based and center-based settings across rural Minnesota, my first priority in the House.Care should be reachable from the first prenatal visit to the last day of life, close to home. That means keeping rural clinics and hospitals open, funding mental health and addiction treatment in the communities that need it, paying direct-care workers enough to stay in the work of supporting disabled Minnesotans and elders, and treating broadband as healthcare so telehealth reaches every township. Rural families already take care of each other. The state's job is to make sure the doctor, the counselor, the nurse, and the caregiver are there when they are needed.The Headwaters of the Mississippi begin in this district. Our lakes, forests, wild rice, and drinking water are the foundation of how we live, work, and play, and whoever creates a cost to them answers for it. I will oppose sulfide mining and new pipelines through the Headwaters, defend Amara's Law against industry carve-outs, and require large companies entering our region to pay for the burden they place on our water and land. Red Lake Nation, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and White Earth Nation have stewarded this land and water since long before Minnesota existed. I will work with them as sovereign partners to protect manoomin and honor treaty rights.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Everyone pays their share and honest work gets honest pay. Local Government Aid has been frozen for years, which pushes the cost of roads, plowing, and county services onto local property taxpayers. I will work to fully fund LGA and County Program Aid and index them to inflation. I will work to close the loopholes that let the largest corporations move profits offshore, and to enforce wage theft laws in the seasonal industries where workers are shorted. I will support Minnesota's family farmers and boost Extension, treat broadband as basic infrastructure, and support an independent citizens redistricting commission that keeps communities and reservations whole. These are the fixes that keep value local.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Education Minnesota

MAPE

Planned Parenthood Minnesota Advocate

Pro-Choice Minnesota

MN NOW PAC

Women Winning

Clean Water Action Minnesota

Friends of the Boundary Waters Action Fund

Save the Boundary Waters Action Fund

Mental Health Now (Inseparable)

NDRC

Faith in Minnesota / ISAIAH

DFL Rural Caucus

Stonewall DFL

Minnesota Young DFL

MN DFL Feminist Caucus

MN DFL Environmental Caucus

Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate Distinction