Saint Paul mayoral candidates meet for wide-ranging debate ahead of Election Day
SAINT PAUL, Minn — With just weeks remaining before Election Day, three of the five candidates vying to lead Minnesota’s capital city sparred over topics including economic development, housing, affordability, homelessness, immigration and basic city services in a wide-ranging debate on Tuesday.
Incumbent Mayor Melvin Carter, seeking a third term, faced pointed criticism from opponents DFL State Rep. Kaohly Her and business owner and scientist Yan Chen. While Carter defended his record and positioned his administration as innovative and nationally recognized, both challengers accused him of being unresponsive and out of touch with residents’ day-to-day concerns.
Carter highlighted a range of accomplishments, including a reduced homicide and other violent crime rates and investments in downtown revitalization. He emphasized fighting the opioid crisis, building more housing and continuing downtown revitalization as top priorities for a third term.
"Every single plan, every single hope, every single ambition, every single initiative that we dreamed up back in 2017, 2018, have been interrupted by a global pandemic, by the murder of George Floyd, by a historic national homeless crisis, a historic national drug crisis, runaway inflation, the sudden death of our largest property owner downtown, a cyber attack, and two Trump presidencies, just to name a few of those things," Carter said. "In the midst of those things, I do think that we've made significant progress in our city." Carter said he supports Saint Paul Public Schools' $37 million referendum.
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