Bly to run for Minnesota House

Rochester School Board member Breanna Bly chose the Republican caucuses to make her big announcement — she will run for the Minnesota House seat held by DFL Rep. Tina Liebling.

In an interview, Bly said she had gotten several calls from people asking her to consider running for the seat. She said she had already decided not to run for re-election to the school board. After much consideration, Bly decided it was the right time to run. She said her time on the school board highlights what makes her a strong candidate.

"I can make tough decisions and tough decisions are going to continue to need to be made at the state level," she said.

It is still unknown what the final legislative boundaries will be for the 2012 election. The courts are expected to release the final redistricting maps later this month. Liebling has said that if redistricting results in a Senate district that is mostly contained within the city of Rochester and she lives within the district, she will run for the seat. That would potentially pit Liebling against GOP Sen. Carla Nelson. Another Democrat, Rochester attorney Ken Moen, has already announced he is running for the Senate seat.