St. Paul mayor election results 2025: Kaohly Her upsets Melvin Carter

Mayor of St. Paul: Rep. Kaohly Her wins election

Kaohly Vang Her has made history, becoming St. Paul’s first woman mayor after unseating incumbent Melvin Carter. FOX 9’s Bill Keller has the latest.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Kaohly Her has defeated incumbent mayor Melvin Carter in the race for St. Paul mayor.

The race was close, with Her leading Carter by fewer than 2,000 votes in the second ranked-choice vote round. After round one, Carter held a slight lead, 40.83% to Her's 38.4% of the vote. Because no candidate reached the 50 percent threshold, the mayoral election was sent to a second round.

In Round 2, Her earned the majority of the vote and the projected win.

What they're saying:

In a late-night statement, Her declared victory, writing:

"My family came here as refugees. Never in their wildest dreams would I be standing here today accepting the position of mayor. I want to thank Mayor Melvin Carter for his many years of service to our city. I started my political career working for him, and I will always be grateful for that opportunity.

"This was a hard-fought victory, and it was not the work of just one individual. Thank you to my family, friends, campaign team, and the hundreds of supporters across the city who hosted lawn signs, held events, and told their neighbors to vote. Your support means the world to me. I got into this race after the assassination of my good friends Mark and Melissa Hortman over the summer. Melissa always told us — "These seats don’t belong to us, we need to go out and earn the right to represent people. Tonight, we honored her legacy.

"Here is my commitment to you: as your mayor, I will always show up. We are a large city, but a small community. Being involved matters. How we run our government matters. How we show up for people – in every corner of our city – matters. I’ve always said that I won’t come to this position with all the answers, but I will always be willing to collaborate and pick up the phone. We are stronger when we work together. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I have a plan to move Saint Paul forward."

Mayor Carter released the following statement on Facebook:

"Congratulations to Rep. Kaohly Her for winning election as Saint Paul’s next mayor!

"While we may not agree on everything, we all have a much greater set of challenges that mus can only be faced together; my team and I stand ready to help set Rep. Her up to hit the ground running.

"And thank you all; serving this city as mayor has been an honor of a lifetime. See you soon!"