Five candidates vie for mayor

Five candidates are running for mayor in Saint Paul.
Incumbent and current mayor Melvin Carter III is running for a third term which has never happened before. His challengers are Kaohly Her, a DFL state representative from District 64A; Yan Chen, a biophysics scientist; Mike Hilborn, an entrepreneur of local small business’s RTD Power Washing and Roof to Deck Restoration; and Adam Dullinger, an engineer.
Early voting starts Sept.19 with the election slated for Nov. 4. This year’s election winner will serve three years rather than four due to a charter amendment passed last November that will shift city elections to even-numbered presidential election years beginning in 2028.
Ranked-choice voting is used in this election. Voters rank the candidates of their choice from first to fourth choice. Only the first-choice votes are counted at first. If none of the candidates receive a majority or the 50% threshold, then the candidate with the least amount of first-choice votes is eliminated from contention which allows for the voters to get their third and fourth choices. With two candidates remaining, the candidate with the most votes of first, second, and third-choice votes wins most likely.
Carter III re-announced in mid February that he was seeking reelection, but didn’t formally file until early August. Her also announced that day she was running and then Chen, Hilborn and Dullinger followed.
Among the campaigns, top issues for voters on the ballot are affordable housing, public safety, and investing in infrastructure.
According to Carter’s re-election campaign website, his team has lowered violent crime through the nationally recognized Community-First Public Safety model. The model emphasizes proactive investments of grief counseling, involving youth with workforce training, and housing for returning residents. Better lighting along with cleaning and maintenance of areas is designed for safety in neighborhoods. Crisis intervention specialists such as social workers and Community Public Health Workers are helping to reduce crime and get help to those in crisis.
“Building a city that works for us all means we all must do the work,” Carter’s campaign states.
After Chen’s city council run in 2023 she felt the city budget was going in the wrong direction. “It is the responsibility of the city to turn this around otherwise our residents will suffer,” Chen said.
Fine tuning of understanding how the pieces of the city departments fit together more effectively, Chen said.
Parks and recreation investment for programs is a priority for Chen when looking at budgeting cost effectiveness.
Her, a former policy director under Carter in his first term, wants to see the city change in leadership where it works with its partners “in order to help the city grow again and be the city that it can be,” she said.
Providing greater resources to EMS and first responders, social services, and mental health support will contribute to having people work together and show up, Her said.
The United Village project near Allianz Field in the Hamline Midway is a development priority for Representative Her’s team.
Her’s family originally from Laos was eventually able to break the cycle of poverty in one generation, and she said, “We need to keep immigrant families together. Ripping families apart is not helpful and the projections show that we will not have enough people here to fill our labor force in our city and state.”
Hilborn, an entrepreneur, prides himself on being a second chance employer, “I’m a second-chance employer, not just because it’s a good thing to do – it is – but because it’s smart. Offering quality jobs to people who are in recovery or re-entering society provides income to those in need and reduces repeat offense. “
Hilborn also says that if he’s elected he will offer programs that will help people and through less government bureaucracy and lower taxes, more money will be in the hands of those who earned it.
Dullinger, an engineer and also the most recent mayoral candidate in the race, says he wants affordability for Saint Paul residents. He aims to expand housing such as building more market-rate housing, having more bicycle infrastructure and municipal grocery stores. Infrastructure maintenance is where he feels he has the upper hand due to his background in engineering.