Kaohly Her, first woman and Hmong St. Paul mayor-elect, shares plans for office
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With the support of St. Paul voters, state Rep. Kaohly Her is making history.
Her is the first woman and the first Hmong American elected to lead the capital city. She narrowly beat fellow DFLer incumbent two-term Mayor Melvin Carter. Carter won his first two elections in a landslide.
Her joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer on Wednesday’s Morning Edition, after a victory celebration in the wee hours, to talk about her plans for office.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. Listen to the conversation by clicking the player button above.
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You’ve said your roots are important to your identity. What do your parents think about the history you’ve made?
So we are refugees from Laos. Last night and this morning, just texts of gratitude. I think my parents are such humble people. I think that that's what keeps me centered — the humility that my parents display. And what they continue to ground me in is to remember to love people and to be forgiving and to always be led by your faith. So those are the messages they've been sending me.
You had a pretty quick campaign, joining the race in August. What were the keys to success?
A really strong, functioning team that is super effective and really doing the hard work. I don't think anyone on my team has slept in three months. And it's really knocking on doors, getting out, lawn signs, making calls, having meet-and-greets, like really hearing and listening and talking to people. That was truly the key to it.
You criticized Mayor Melvin Carter for being disengaged while the city stalled out and not communicating with state lawmakers in debates. How will you lead differently, especially when it comes to outreach?
Last night, I got a lot of questions about what would I do right away. And the first things that came to my mind was that we need to rebuild relationships. And we need to reach out to the different levels of government and have these conversations, and to assess the progress that's been made and where we want the relationship to go. And so that is very true to not only having strong partnerships, but making sure that our partners know that we are here, and we are ready and we are listening.
What changes might St. Paul residents notice first as you take the reins of the city?
I hope that what they notice first is the responsiveness and that the rebuilding of the nuts and bolts of how we do our city, so that when they do send in requests, submit for permits and reach out to the city, that we respond to them in a reasonable amount of time. It seems so small and so basic, but I think that is a really important part of how we run city government.
Where do you start with trying to revitalize downtown?
One, I want to honor that Mayor Carter has done some really important work in the eight years that he’s been in office. I think what St. Paul residents showed us in the election Tuesday night is that it was close, which means that I have to do an assessment on what has worked and carry those things with me, but then also work with partners who’ve been in this work and think, how will we move forward together? And I will bring together ideas that I brought forward during the campaign, and for us to figure out a plan that works for all of us.
Do you have any plans for Carter to possibly have a place in your administration?
I don’t even have a plan yet for who is going to be in the transition. It’s really important for us to make sure that we transition and that we have the next two months to really lay the foundation for what January will look like. I value Mayor Carter and his vision and insights. I always told him that I would follow him wherever it is that he would go, and so I hope that part of that will stay active, advising me and working with me in this administration.
Will you resign your House seat soon to make sure that it’s filled ahead of the next legislative session?
Yeah, we’ve had preliminary discussions about when might be the right timing. I do have to reach out and have a conversation with probably both the governor and Leader Zack Stephenson. But we want to make sure that we certify this race before we take the necessary steps to vacate the House seat so that they can run a special election.
Because you have extensive state government experience, do you have initial thoughts about what you hope to get for St. Paul during the upcoming legislative session?
I think having built relationships across the aisle, I’m very hopeful. Actually, as I was thinking through my first 100-day plans, much of that included continuing to work with my colleagues across the aisle at the legislature, because the only way for us to be successful in St. Paul is to make sure that we work with all the lawmakers at the state Capitol. Right now in the House, it’s a 67-67 split, which means I need buy-in from everyone. So that’s important to me.
