St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter seeking third term
According to a news release from Melvin Carter for St. Paul, the two-term mayor filed for reelection on Monday afternoon.
Carter was elected as the city's 46th mayor in 2017, becoming the first Black man to hold the position, and successfully ran for reelection in 2021, earning around 62% of first-choice votes.
Since taking office, Carter helped to raise the minimum wage in St. Paul to $13.25 per hour for micro businesses, $15 per hour for small businesses and $15.97 for large and macro businesses. In 2023, Carter signed the Safe Storage ordinance, which requires guns to be locked and unloaded in homes across the city.
Between 2018 and 2024, St. Paul saw a 17% increase in aggravated assaults and a 59% increase in non-residential burglaries, according to a study by the Council on Criminal Justice.
During that same timespan, according to the study, the city saw a 71% decrease in residential burglaries, 62% decrease in domestic violence, 16% decrease in drug offenses, 53% decrease in gun assaults, 33% decrease in motor vehicle theft and 30% decrease in robberies.
"St. Paul has been through an extraordinary series of challenges, and we've come through stronger – together," Carter said in the release. "We've made historic progress, and we're just getting started."
Last month, the mayor worked with Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota National Guard in responding to a cyberattack on St. Paul that impacted city systems.
State Rep. Kaohly Her, DFL-St. Paul, also announced her candidacy on Monday.
"We need a mayor who is ready to step up, engage with the community, and provide focused leadership that will move our city forward," Her said in a release announcing her candidacy.
Her was a former policy director for Carter and has served in the Minnesota House since 2019.
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