Is Carter vulnerable? State Rep. Kaohly Vang Her explores run for St. Paul mayor

With little more than three months to go before the voting process state Rep Kaohly Vang Her a former procedures director for St Paul Mayor Melvin Carter is exploring a run for mayor and asking fellow lawmakers for their help or neutrality according to political organizers with knowledge of her campaign It s a decision that would put her on a political collision discipline with her own former boss Undated courtesy photo from the - legislative session of Rep Kaohly Vang Her DFL-St Paul Courtesy of the Minnesota House of Representatives Her did not return calls Thursday or Friday but others at St Paul City Hall or with connections to state lawmakers announced they were confident she was preparing to announce a mayoral run Given growing frustration with the numerous challenges facing the state s capital city Her isn t the only candidate taking a run at the two-term incumbent mayor who easily won his first two elections The filing period runs July through Aug and Carter released in January every intention of running again despite certain criticism he appears disconnected from City Hall Declared mayoral candidates include Yan Chen a University of Minnesota 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 vote which is non-partisan but typically draws strong party interest Voters will rank candidates in order of preference and there will be no political primary to pare the field Also appearing on the Nov ballot are questions about a St Paul Society Schools levy and whether to empower the city council to impose administrative citations or non-criminal fines Born in Laos Her came to the United States as a -year-old Hmong refugee and was raised in Appleton Wis where her father worked in a paper plant and her mother as a coach s aide She holds a bachelor s degree in business administration and finance as well as a master s degree in business administration from Northeastern University She was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives representing District A which spans the Union Park and Summit-University neighborhoods of St Paul in and won a fourth term in Among her first initiatives in office she helped launch the first Minnesota Asian Pacific Caucus at the State Capitol She served as Carter s plan director during his first term in office from January through Sept She does great work for St Paul up at the State House and Mayor Carter does terrific work for our city in the mayor s office explained St Paul City Council Member Saura Jost on Friday With that being declared I ve already committed to supporting Mayor Carter for re-election Interim Council Member Matt Privratsky in the last few days appointed to the council by Carter mentioned he was proud to patronage Melvin in his re-election The five other council members and representatives for Carter could not be reached for comment Friday Vulnerable to a challenge The mayor once was seen as a rising star within the Democratic Party and a probable candidate for a Washington appointment That was before a rise in homelessness homicides and carjackings early in the coronavirus pandemic which sent remote workers away from a downtown already short on retail and commerce Carter himself spends limited time each week downtown in his mayoral offices He moved his family a inadequate years ago to a house at the city s eastern edges closer to suburban Maplewood and Woodbury than the embattled Midway or the Rondo neighborhood where he grew up When former Vice President Kamala Harris lost her presidential bid in November the chance of Carter being called down to D C fizzled as did funding and backing for countless of the city s progressive priorities from social spending to EV charging stations and geothermal heating No matter who is elected mayor St Paul will be left with no allies in the White House and a dwindling number at the Minnesota State Capitol where lawmakers declined to fund a new ice arena at Grand Casino Arena formerly the Xcel Potential Center for the Minnesota Wild and offered the city limited other new benefits in the last legislative session If anything the Carter administration has at times appeared at loggerheads with state Rep Maria Isa Perez-Vega chair of St Paul s House delegation who has complained of not having calls returned Melvin Carter St Paul Mayor waves to parade goers during the St Anthony Park Fourth of July parade in St Paul on Friday July John Autey Pioneer Press I m not voting for him a third time noted Steve Subera a product marketer from St Paul in response to an inquiry about the mayor on social media The downtown situation is on his watch Grand Casino Arena is in limbo and it doesn t appear he has any influence with state Sen Sandy Pappas or Perez-Vega Relations between Carter s office and the St Paul City Council appear equally up-and-down The mayor s office last year spent weeks if not months in a budget battle with the council leading to a series of line-item budget vetoes by the mayor and an attempted last-minute budget override by the council With two city budgets on the table it was unclear to a great number of observers which one had legal sticking power through the first months of the year Following that and other bruising political fights Council President Mitra Jalali who was mostly seen as sympathetic to the mayor resigned in March City struggles Other problems are mounting in the capital city Carter once spoke glowingly of getting upstream of crime through better street lighting increased library access and free youth events through the city s various rec centers Then the price of metal went up as did the cost of everything else and an epidemic in stolen copper wire left sections of the city bathed in darkness as street lights went cold In January a city rec center staffer shot a teen in the head and the location was closed for weeks Run-ins between library workers and aggressive visitors specific of them homeless and on drugs have forced protection changes The Rondo District Library on Dale Street now closes at p m on Saturdays and entirely on Sundays Workers and patrons say the library s proximity to a Green Line light rail station hasn t helped The train once heralded as a prospective engine for economic advancement now is viewed as a liability even by certain fans of populace transit Homicide and carjacking numbers have fallen considerably since the height of the pandemic Still demographic projections forecast sluggish population advancement in St Paul in the years ahead a trend reflected in lackluster apartment construction over the past sparse years Entire office buildings and even specific apartment buildings in downtown St Paul sit vacant or have fallen into foreclosure as major tenants such as Wold Architects and TKDA have fled westward to Minneapolis and Bloomington Property tax increases have left a large number of homeowners reeling The city lost its last downtown grocery store Lunds Byerlys in March and Cub Foods is leaving Aug after years in the Midway Social media reaction For several voters enough is enough When questioned about the mayor s prospects for re-election users of the social media platform Bluesky offered a wide range of responses I m a lifelong Democrat I ll never vote for Mayor Carter again wrote one Bluesky user I ve sent his office questions about problems in Lowertown and was met with no response I followed up No response Too multiple Democratic leaders in St Paul feel safe so they ignore what they don t care about They ignore citizens Others aren t so sure I have a hard time getting a read on him as a mayor because the city council is comically ineffective so he spends a good chunk of time effort dealing with that wrote another social media user I would like to see him at least challenged though Downtown is in terrible shape Particular praised the mayor for working with St Paul Police to focus on non-fatal shootings an approach that appears to have helped St Paul temper but not eliminate shooting deaths Carter worked WITH police to change tactics and clear more non-murder shootings to reduce the overall number of homicides wrote a Carter supporter on the Bluesky platform The police chief even credits the progressive Dem Imagine that Other social media users noted urban areas across the country have suffered in the era of remote work high housing costs and online retail and St Paul s challenges are not unique or attributable to one person or political party The issues downtown aren t the mayor s fault they re the impact of major shifts beyond the city s ability to control wrote a Bluesky user I think he s done good work so far and rehabilitating downtown will take decades not years I like the way he s steered program with a practical but reliably liberal approach I don t blame a mayor for condemned buildings and low office occupancy post-Covid wrote another user But I do like how he explains his fiscal policies and budget and supports creative solutions to complex region issues All the problems that St Paul has will require time money and effort to fix and I think he s still the best person for it revealed yet another Bluesky user A candidate that promises an overnight method isn t serious and he s never been that guy in my opinion He s got the right focus and values Let him cook as they say Commented another user I m alright with the mayor but I think a good challenger might bring good framework ideas into the foreground I don t want an incumbent to ever take things for granted and not try things or play it safe and a candidate that addresses housing or downtown with actual framework ideas would be good Related Articles City asks Why are St Paul s Green Line stations going offline during Yacht Club music festival Reaction to shootings This is a stunning act of violence 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