St. Paul mayor's race begins in earnest, Kaohly Her launches campaign

Yahoo

2 days ago

With five candidates officially running and a little more than two months until Election Day, the race for St. Paul mayor is beginning in earnest.
Around a hundred supporters of Rep. Kaohly Her gathered at Lake Monster Brewing Company in St. Paul for a formal launch event for the state lawmaker's mayoral campaign Monday night, including her current and former Democratic Farmer-Labor-House colleagues.
State Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, and his wife, Yvette, who survived an attempted assassination at their home in June, have also endorsed Her. They didn't attend the Monday launch but appeared in a video played at the event.
Many in attendance said they had voted for Mayor Melvin Carter in 2017 and again in 2021, but said a change of leadership is needed in City Hall. They pointed to public safety concerns, particularly along the Green Line light rail corridor on University Avenue, and development troubles in downtown St. Paul.
'I appreciate everything that Melvin has done, but after eight years, I think we need someone else with newer ideas, more energy,' said Peter Scott, of the Cathedral Hill neighborhood in St. Paul. 'Having Kaohly come in after having worked in state government with that larger perspective — I think it would be very, very helpful for St Paul.'
Carter, who is seeking a third term in office, has pointed to dropping homicide and carjacking rates after the pandemic as a sign of improving conditions in the city, but many point to ongoing issues with addiction and homelessness along the Green Line as a sign of worsening conditions overall.
Scott and others said they hope fresh leadership might help address those problems, as well as rising property taxes, job growth and development challenges in districts like downtown. Scott pointed to the closure of downtown's only grocery store earlier this year and the closure of the Midway Cub Foods as signs of the city's struggles.
Speaking with reporters after filing for his third term earlier this month, Carter said he's been working with lawmakers 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 at the time, adding that he thinks the city is gaining 'momentum' on issues like housing.
During his tenure, Cater has pursued a progressive agenda that has included medical debt forgiveness, college savings accounts for newborns, and a new sales tax to fund roads and parks.
Her has said that while she supports those policies, the city of St. Paul should focus on essential services.
'I don't have a shiny new project that I want to put out there and tell you all look what I'm going to be doing, so that the national stage can look at us,' Her said in a speech at the event. 'But what I do have is the grit, the determination, the skill and the ability to dig into doing city correctly.'
Besides friends, community members and former city leaders, former state Rep. Ryan Winkler, a Golden Valley DFLer now running for Hennepin County Attorney was present, as was Her's current House colleague, Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee.
The three other candidates in the race besides Carter and Her include an engineer, a scientist and a local business owner.
Yan Chen is a biophysicist at the University of Minnesota who ran for St. Paul City Council Ward 1 in 2023.
North End resident and mechanical engineer Adam Dullinger is the most recent candidate to enter the race. He's a political newcomer
Mike Hilborn runs a power washing, snowplowing and Christmas tree lighting business and ran as a Republican for downtown St. Paul's state House district in 2024.
In a biography on his campaign website, he describes himself as 'a father, an entrepreneur, a second-chance employer.'
Mayoral elections are nonpartisan, though they often draw strong party interest.
This year will be a little different, however: the St. Paul Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is not making any endorsements in the race as it works to rebuild itself.
This will be the last year a mayoral election happens in an odd-numbered year in St. Paul. In 2024, voters approved a measure to shift the election to even-numbered years when other major contests are on the ballot.
The mayor is typically elected to a four-year term. But because of the change, the next election will be in 2028. The winner of this year's election will only serve a three-year term.
Under St. Paul's ranked-choice voting system, voters can rank candidates in order of preference.
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