State Rep. Kaohly Her announces bid for St. Paul mayor

Yahoo

2 days ago

Rep. Kaohly Her, DFL-St. Paul, has announced her bid for St. Paul mayor.
Her, who serves as speaker pro tempore of the Minnesota House and is the co-chair of the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee, had previously explored a run.
The filing period runs July 29 through Aug. 12, and Carter announced his intention of running again in January and filed his official paperwork Monday after Her's announcement.
The fourth-term state representative, who used to work in Carter's office, is the mayor's most prominent challenger so far.
Her said she decided to enter the race because she felt there hadn't been enough debate on issues facing the city — whether it be rising property taxes, public safety and development challenges in districts like downtown.
'I hadn't seen any engagement with voters in this mayoral race,' she said in an interview. 'It is important for us to vigorously debate the issues and the solutions in front of us, so that voters have a choice.'
Besides Her and Carter, declared candidates include Yan Chen, a Democrat and biophysicist, and Mike Hilborn, a Republican business owner who runs a power-washing, Christmas tree lighting and snowplowing company.
The St. Paul DFL, which is in the process of reconstituting itself, has opted not to endorse in the ranked-choice election, which is nonpartisan but typically draws strong party interest.
Carter was first elected mayor in 2017 with nearly 51% of the vote and won a second term in 2021 with more than 61%. His closest opponent had just under 13% of the vote that year.
The mayor has faced growing challenges in recent years. While homicides and carjackings have fallen since peaking during the pandemic, public safety challenges remain, especially along the Green Line light rail corridor on University Avenue.
Carter has also faced pushback from other local leaders. He recently clashed with the city council over the 2025 budget, and state Rep. Maria Isa Perez-Vega, whose district includes the Westside and downtown, has complained of unreturned phone calls.
Following Her's Monday announcement, Carter filed paperwork at the county elections office to run for his third term. Speaking with reporters, the mayor said his office has had 'major conversations' with legislators and other local leaders about issues like road reconstruction, addressing a surge in copper wire theft from street lights and redeveloping the city's struggling downtown.
'Obviously, there's been a lot of global forces that we haven't been able to hold off of St Paul, whether that's the challenges hitting every downtown (or) some of the results that still are lingering from the pandemic,' he said, adding that he thinks the city is gaining 'momentum' on issues like housing.
Rent control is one area that Her says needs improvement. Voters in 2021 approved a measure to cap rent increases to 3% annually, something developers said would limit housing growth.
Earlier this year, the city council carved out exemptions for housing built after 2004, something Carter backed after supporting the original ballot measure.
Her said she has sponsored bills to ensure fair treatment of tenants, but more tweaks to city policy will be needed in order to increase available housing units in the city.
The city should also shift to focusing on essential city services, Her said. In recent years, the mayor has started initiatives including medical debt forgiveness, college savings accounts and a pilot program to provide guaranteed income to low-income families.
Her said she supports those policies, but doesn't think it's the city government's job to provide them.
'When we spend city resources working on programs and initiatives, that, though they are good and they are valuable … we are taking resources away from actually doing the core functions of our job in the city,' he said.
Carter said he thinks the city can provide basic functions while offering expanded services.
'I'm proud that we've demonstrated new ways to take care of people while doubling efforts to rebuild our streets, while reducing homicides in our city, while taking care of all those basics that folks rely on while navigating a set of globally significant crises that we've come through in the past eight years,' he said.
Her was first elected to the state House of Representatives representing District 64A — which covers Union Park and Summit-University neighborhoods — in 2018.
In her announcement she noted she was born in a bamboo hut in Laos and arrived in the U.S. with her family as refugees.
'My parents had working-class jobs that paid enough to buy a home, give us a high-quality education, and break the poverty cycle in one generation. Everyone deserves that chance … We need leadership that meets this challenging time,' she said. 'We must expect more from our leaders to deal with the cruelty and volatility of Trump's tariffs, immigration policies, and cuts at the federal level that threaten the livelihood of our community.'
Voters will rank candidates in order of preference, and there will be no political primary to pare the field.
Also appearing on the Nov. 4 ballot are questions about a St. Paul Public Schools levy and whether to empower the St. Paul City Council to impose administrative citations, or noncriminal fines.
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