A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, he represents District 15, which includes all or portions of Brown, Lac qui Parle, Lyon, Redwood, Renville, and Yellow Medicine counties in the southwestern part of the state.

[2][3] Dahms graduated from Redwood Falls High School in 1965, then went on to the University of Minnesota, earning a B.S.

[2][4] Dahms is the former owner of Riverside Motors and American Family Insurance Agency in Redwood Falls.

In April 2015, he voted against a popular bill to repeal the long-standing ban on Sunday liquor sales.

[7] During the COVID-19 pandemic, in his role as Commerce Committee chair, a number of colleagues implicated Dahms as a main roadblock to a bill that would have allowed craft breweries to sell package sizes other than 750ml and 64oz.