Hi! 

Nice to meet you. My name is Isabel Rolfes. I am an adopted, Indian-American, queer, woman who is a product of all that Minnesota offers. I grew up in the Brainerd Lakes area, then moved to Central Minnesota where I got a taste of rural farm towns, and then eventually to the Twin Cities for College. After graduating from St. Thomas, I moved to Uptown. Right away, I knew that this was home. I fell in love with this urban space that still feels like a neighborhood, has lakes, multiple intertwining cultures, and access to transit. 

During college, I took on various roles working to gain, maintain, and grow DFL majorities. This has always been centered in my work. As a college student, I canvassed for Attorney General Ellison, interned for Governor Walz, and worked for the DFL House Caucus Finance team. After graduation, my role in the DFL changed. I went on to work on the official legislative side as a Committee Legislative Assistant for the Chair of the Education Policy Committee, Ruth Richardson, while also working for then Representative, and now, Chair Acomb, as she chaired the Climate Action Caucus. Between then and now, I have managed a State Senate campaign in a Western Metro Suburban district that is historically red and moved the needle 9 points to the left. I currently am the Legislative Assistant to Majority Leader Long, a role in which I have seen and learned how our state government functions at its highest level, at an incredibly fast and effective pace. 

As a queer, BIPOC woman, growing up as a minority in every space I was in, I came to learn that the status quo isn’t for everyone, and I am here to show younger folks that if they don’t fit in, that they are still loved, respected and cared for. I am running because I am ready to be the leading voice of the next generation. I am of the generation who doesn’t remember Columbine or 9/11, but we have since been repeatedly traumatized by such events and have been socialized in a way to see them as mundane. This has caused a mental health crisis in my generation due to past trauma handed down to us on top of the current climate crisis. 

Whether it be gun violence, climate change, reproductive freedom being stripped away, or our 2SLGBTQ+ neighbors being under constant threats of violence, If elected, I will vow to listen to the voices of all generations. I will ensure that the younger ones are not left out like they have been historically. As a child, I was always told to not worry, the adults will take care of it. They didn’t. Now that I have the experience to lead, I am going to work to do for kids what I was told adults are supposed to do, shepherd on the next generation to prosperity.