Kaohly Her believes her work experience, relationships differentiate her as she readies to be St. Paul's next mayor
It's been a whirlwind for St. Paul Mayor-elect Kaohly Her since she defeated two-term incumbent Melvin Carter in an upset on Tuesday night, setting the stage for her to make history as the first woman and Hmong American to lead the capital city.
But now that she has taken a moment to process in the days since the election, she says she is ready to get to work and deliver on what voters asked for: change at a time when St. Paul is at a crossroads.
"Now that I've had a little bit of time to rest and really try to sink in, I just think about what an amazing thing just happened," said Her, currently a state representative for parts of the capital city. "In a time in which people are afraid to have political courage to stand against their own parties, to see people say we can care about each other and respect and honor the people leading, but also want change and to ask for that and then to make that change. And to me, that was really powerful."
She entered the race just 90 days before the election and built a coalition that carried her to victory by fewer than 2,000 votes. She credits her colleague and friend, the late Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, for how she approached the campaign: show up, listen and work for every vote.
"She already created the blueprint for how we do this," Her said in an interview with WCCO on Thursday.
Among the challenges facing the city include a struggling downtown, high property taxes and public safety issues fueled by the fentanyl crisis.
One of her first priorities, she explained, is to dig into the city's finances. She would not commit to what, if any, spending reductions she may advocate for without seeing a detailed line-item budget, but acknowledged that the city can't keep asking residents to pay more.
"It's going to be really difficult to say what's going to happen with taxes, but my hope is that if my plan works, as I would like to see it work out, is that we will grow that [tax] base enough that people won't continue to see increases in their property taxes," Her said.
Her believes the 15 years she spent in the private sector primed her for this new role.
"I know how to execute, to get projects completed, to stay on timeline, to look at budgets, to look at costs," she said. "It's important as somebody who is an executive of an institution to actually be able to do all of those things."
She said she also heard from voters concerned about vacant storefronts in commercial corridors and developers hesitant to start new projects, despite exemptions to the city's rent control policy.
The four-term state representative said she believes the new changes voters approved on Tuesday, allowing the city to issue administrative citations and levy fines for non-criminal violations of local ordinances, may be another "tool" to help with revitalization efforts. Property owners could face penalties for abandoned buildings.
She also plans to meet with businesses before she takes office to begin crafting an economic development plan and wants to streamline permitting processes to lower barriers to opening and operating a business.
"We heard that our city is one of the hardest to do business in, and that's because permitting and getting licenses is nearly impossible in our city," she said.
The mayor-elect worked in finance before Mayor Carter's office and later at the state capitol. She thinks the diverse resume and the relationships she's built in business and across all levels of government will help her deliver on her promises.
"I've already actually reached out to a number from them, both sides of the aisle, to tell them, 'I need my city to do well, and I'm going to need your help.' And people have said, 'We'll be there for you.' That's important."