Rep. Kaohly Vang Her is running for mayor of St. Paul. Here are five things to know.

State Rep. Kaohly Vang Her will run for mayor of St. Paul, challenging Mayor Melvin Carter, a fellow DFLer.

Until now, Carter did not have a well-known DFL challenger, and it was not clear he would face real competition as he seeks a third term for St. Paul mayor.

Carter won a second term in November 2021 with more than 60% of first-choice votes, but there is dissatisfaction in St. Paul. The city is grappling with fast-rising property taxes, a downtown that has not returned to pre-pandemic form, and increased visibility of homeless people and drug users.

In an announcement Monday, Her looked to tap into that angst, and concerns about how St. Paul will fare under President Donald Trump.

“We need leadership that meets this challenging time,” Her’s statement read. “We must expect more from our leaders.”

Her said in an interview Monday that while she worked with Carter in 2018 to advance lofty ideas such as a college savings plan for newborns, times have changed.

Now, she said, St. Paul needs to focus on the basics of delivering city services and working with the school board on the school district’s budget challenges.

Here are four things to know about Her:

Her is Hmong and came to the U.S. from Laos at age 4. Her family settled in Appleton, Wis., and she graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Her has said her grandfather worked for the CIA during the Vietnam War, and her family left the country as refugees.

In her campaign announcement, Her said her family found opportunity in the United States.

“Everyone deserves that chance,” Her’s statement read. “Now, the ladder is being pulled up while the safety net is ripped out from underneath us.”

After she was elected to the Legislature, Her continued her day job as Carter’s political director until 2021. The mix of roles attracted controversy in early 2020 when Her proposed funding the savings accounts with state money.

Her said she still holds Carter in high esteem, but she would take a different approach.

“I consider him my friend. He is my mentor,” Her said of Carter.

Before Carter’s election, Her was the administrator for the St. Paul school board, and served on the city’s Police Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission.

Her has served four terms in the house, first elected in 2018.

In the 2025 session, she spoke about her family’s story as she advocated against the revocation of health insurance for undocumented immigrants.

She was a deputy House speaker pro tempore in 2025 and co-chaired the Commerce Finance and Policy Committee.

Her represents House District 64A, which includes the St. Paul neighborhoods of Union Park, Mac-Groveland, Cathedral Hill and parts of the West Seventh area.

In the 2023 session, Her carried several bills aimed at expanding tenants’ rights. But she is also more open to further weakening rent control.

Carter initially endorsed St. Paul’s rent control ordinance in 2021, when a majority of voters capped most apartment rent increases at 3% per year.

In an interview Monday, Her said she has been speaking with small landlords about their issues with rent control.

“It’s not just large developers saying this isn’t working for us,” Her said. “There need to be additional changes,” she said, adding that she wanted to “meet in the middle to find solutions that work.”

Two other candidates have filed to run for St. Paul mayor: Mike Hilborn, a Republican running on a platform of attracting business with tax incentives; and Yan Chen, who previously sought election to City Council in Ward 1, and whose platform focuses on neighborhood relations.