Kaohly Her became the first woman and first Hmong American to be elected St. Paul mayor in the 2025 election.
Her’s win early Wednesday morning came as a surprise, as she was “cautiously optimistic” minutes prior to the announcement.
“I think people just feeling like they were heard. That somebody showed up at their door and somebody talked to them, and that they were able to express that even if they might have been OK with status quo, that they wanted better for our city,” Her said before her victory.
The race went to the second-choice votes after the first round votes were tallied shortly before midnight. At the time, incumbent Mayor Melvin Carter had 40.83% of the vote and Her had 38.43%.
Carter said that challenges throughout his past two terms made the race close.
“We’ve been through, over the past several years, some of the greatest crises and challenges that our city has ever been through,” Carter said. “Some of them based on events that have happened across the globe, and some of them, frankly, based on historic roots in our city, and so we fully expected it to be close.”
First round of voting
Carter led Her with 40.83% of the votes to Her’s 38.43% by the time first choice votes were counted Tuesday. If no candidate had received more than half the votes, third-choice selections would have been tallied.
“We’re hopeful about what the second round will bring for us, and so we’re really cautiously optimistic,” Her said.
Her spoke to The Crest’s reporters at her watch party at Sweeney’s Saloon in St. Paul while waiting on her victory.
Carter addressed a crowd of reporters, including The Crest’s, at his own event at The Black Hart of Saint Paul as votes were being tallied.
“We’re experiencing a moment in which cities have to worry about the federal government laying their cities under siege, and just so the stubborn belief that this city has, the stubborn belief in one another that our neighbors hold, is just really humbling and incredible,” Carter said.
Her represents District 64A in the Minnesota Senate, which includes the University of St. Thomas. She had been running on a platform of improving public safety, increasing affordable housing and revitalizing downtown and the Midway neighborhood.
“We never went into this race running against something or anyone. We ran because we wanted to make sure that the issues in front of St. Paul were vigorously debated,” Her said.
Carter was seeking his third term as mayor. He campaigned with the same priorities as Her, but with an added emphasis on youth programs and environmental concerns.
How does ranked choice voting work?
The candidate with the least amount of votes, Adam Dullinger, was eliminated from the race. Voters who selected him on their ballots will now have their second-choice selections added to the remaining candidates totals.
This process will continue with the lowest candidate until a winner receives more than half the votes.
You can contact The Crest at thecrest@stthomas.edu.
