Melvin Carter III

Melvin Carter III

Mayor of St. Paul

Tenure

2018 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

7

Successor

Kaohly Her

Prior offices

St. Paul City Council Ward 1

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Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 2, 2021

Education

High school

Central High School

Bachelor's

Florida A&M University

Graduate

University of Minnesota, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs

Personal

Birthplace

St. Paul, Minn.

Profession

Mayor

Contact

Official website

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Campaign website

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Melvin Carter III is the Mayor of St. Paul in Minnesota. He assumed office on January 1, 2018. His current term ends on January 1, 2026.

Carter ran for re-election for Mayor of St. Paul in Minnesota. He lost in the general election on November 4, 2025.

Carter completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Melvin Carter III was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He graduated from Central High School. Carter earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Florida A&M University. He later received his master's degree in public policy from the University of Minnesota. Carter's professional experience includes working as the executive director of the Minnesota Children's Cabinet.

Elections

2025

See also: Mayoral election in St. Paul, Minnesota (2025)

General election

General election for Mayor of St. Paul

Select round: Round 2 Round 1

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Kaohly Her in round 2 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Kaohly Her	51.5	32,295	6,411	Won (2)
		Melvin Carter III	48.5	30,418	2,807	2
	Submit photo	Yan Chen	0.0	0	-6,522	1
		Mike Hilborn	0.0	0	-5,815	1
		Adam Dullinger	0.0	0	-1,619	1

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Kaohly Her	38.3	25,884	0	Won (2)
		Melvin Carter III	40.8	27,611	0	2
	Submit photo	Yan Chen	9.6	6,522	0	1
		Mike Hilborn	8.6	5,815	0	1
		Adam Dullinger	2.4	1,619	0	1
		Undeclared Write-insUndeclared write-in candidates may advance past the first round in some ranked-choice elections. If the official source reports write-in votes by candidate name, Ballotpedia displays them alongside the ballot-qualified candidates. However, if write-in votes are reported without a name, they will instead be included in the total write-in votes figure in Round 1. Please consult the official elections source for more details about unnamed write-in candidate vote totals past Round 1.	0.2	166	0

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 67,617
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Endorsements

Carter received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Carter's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here.

• U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D)

2021

See also: Mayoral election in St. Paul, Minnesota (2021)

General election

General election for Mayor of St. Paul

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Melvin Carter III in round 1 .

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Melvin Carter III	61.6	36,426	0	Won (1)
	Submit photo	Dino Guerin	12.6	7,454	0	1
	Submit photo	Paul Langenfeld	9.0	5,298	0	1
		Bill Hosko	5.8	3,423	0	1
	Submit photo	Dora Jones-Robinson	4.0	2,357	0	1
		Miki Frost	3.5	2,069	0	1
	Submit photo	Abu Nayeem	2.6	1,516	0	1
	Submit photo	Scott Evans Wergin	0.6	355	0	1
		Undeclared Write-insUndeclared write-in candidates may advance past the first round in some ranked-choice elections. If the official source reports write-in votes by candidate name, Ballotpedia displays them alongside the ballot-qualified candidates. However, if write-in votes are reported without a name, they will instead be included in the total write-in votes figure in Round 1. Please consult the official elections source for more details about unnamed write-in candidate vote totals past Round 1.	0.3	205	0

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 59,103
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

2017

See also: Municipal elections in St. Paul, Minnesota (2017)

The city of St. Paul, Minnesota, held an election for mayor on November 7, 2017. The filing deadline for this election was August 15, 2017. Mayor Chris Coleman (D) did not file for re-election because of his 2018 campaign for governor. The following candidates ran in the general election for mayor of St. Paul.

Mayor of St. Paul, General Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Melvin Carter III	50.86%	31,353
Pat Harris	24.79%	15,281
Dai Thao	12.31%	7,590
Elizabeth Dickinson	4.75%	2,927
Tom Goldstein	3.83%	2,360
Chris Holbrook	1.39%	854
Sharon Anderson	0.79%	487
Tim Holden	0.72%	446
Trahern Jeen Crews	0.26%	162
Barnabas Y'shua	0.15%	94
Write-in votes	0.15%	92
Total Votes		61,646
Source: Ramsey County, Minnesota, "Election Results," accessed November 28, 2017

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Melvin Carter III completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Carter's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m Melvin Carter — a father, husband, lifelong Saint Paul resident, and the proud Mayor of the city I’ve always called home. I grew up in the Rondo neighborhood and learned early that strong communities don’t just happen — they’re actively built by people who show up, work hard, and build something together. Today, Sakeena and I are raising our family on Saint Paul’s Eastside — in a neighborhood full of the same energy and deep community pride that’s shaped me from the start. In my eight years leading this city, we have faced one unprecedented challenge after the next — from COVID-19, to the murder of George Floyd, to civil unrest, a rock slide, a cyberattack, and now new Trump-era uncertainty. Each crisis tested our resolve, but through it all we’ve not only learned how to better support each other in tough times — but how to come out of those times stronger. We’ve come a long way — and we’re not done. That’s why I’m running for re-election: because I believe in this moment, and I believe that there’s so much more we can build — together. We’re set up well for this next phase. That means making our public spaces more accessible, helping people get connected to care, and contributing to hold accountable those who choose to break our social contract. It means seizing our opportunities to grow — cutting red tape, attracting new investments, and making sure the world knows what we know: Saint Paul is one of the best places anywhere to build a family, a business, and a home.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• A Home for Every Family: We’re not just building units — we’re building stability, community, and opportunity. That means deeply affordable housing, expanded pathways to homeownership, and new tools to help families stay rooted in the neighborhoods they love. It means deeply through our innovative Inheritance Fund to help families who had homes taken in our Old Rondo and West Side Flats neighborhood build family wealth through home ownership. In this next phase, we’ll focus on cutting red tape, unlocking more places to build, and supporting struggling residents so we can keep growing with intention and care.
• A Safer City, Built Together: In the years since the pandemic, we’ve reduced violent crime — and we did so by reimagining what public safety can be. Our Community-First model invests in mental health response, youth outreach, and neighborhood-based teams. But we’re not stopping there. We’ll continue holding people accountable, helping more residents get connected to care, and making every part of our city safer and stronger together.
• A 21st Century Downtown: We are hard at work bringing downtown back to life. We are doing it by converting vacant buildings into housing, launching new festivals and events, and working with small businesses to help them grow. Today, Saint Paul is hosting more major events than ever before — from the Yacht Club music festival to the World Juniors hockey tournament — while attracting new development interest from national investors. Now it’s time to accelerate that growth — and make our downtown a place that generates wealth for our communities, while being a neighborhood people are proud to call home.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Economic Dignity
In Saint Paul, every child starts life with a CollegeBound savings account. We’ve launched guaranteed income pilots, forgiven medical debt, eliminated library late fines, made youth sports free, among many other efforts. We are finding new ways for City Hall to meet people where they are, and help them move forward. We must continue to build on that progress — scaling economic supports, expanding opportunity, and doing even more to set our families up for success.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

My first time voting for president was in the election of 2000 while in college at Florida A&M. I later found out that hundreds of my classmates, at Florida's largest HBCU, were disenfranchised at the polls that year. That, for me, was the most profound sense of powerlessness I'd ever felt. But even more than that, you're taught in school that what makes America, America is that if you want a say, you get a say. I couldn't figure out how to reconcile that, with this experience that we had had of having to argue the right to vote in the United States to open the 21st century. That experience informs a lot of the work that I do today. It's why we're so insistent on public engagement and why every member of my cabinet is hired through a community hiring process.

What do you perceive to be your city's greatest challenges over the next decade?

The growing fentanyl crisis will require everything from us. This is why my 2026 budget includes $1 million for opioid and drug response work to support outreach teams that work with unhoused people and expand the city's care-based responses. It is my intention to make Saint Paul the worst place in the state to deal fentanyl while also making it the best resourced place to get clean. This draws upon the success of our city's gun violence response that emphasizes community collaboration. In Saint Paul we do this by involving multiple partners, including the Office of Neighborhood Safety, our police department, and other frontline community organizations.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Individuals: Governor Tim Walz, LG Peggy Flanagan, AG Keith Ellison, Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar, State Senators Clare Oumou Verbeten and Sandy Pappas, Rep Samakab Hussein, Commissioners Garrison McMurtrey and Rena Moran, Council Members Cheniqua Johnson, Anika Bowie, Saura Jost, and Molly Coleman.

Unions: MNA, Carpenters, IUPAT District Council 82, Steamfitters/Pipefitters – Local 455, Sprinkler Fitters 417, Plumbers Local 34, IBEW Local 110, SEIU

Other organizations: Faith in Minnesota, Sierra Club, Sustain Saint Paul, Mom's Demand Action, Everytown for Gun Safety.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2017

Carter's campaign website included the following themes:

“	People Everyone in Saint Paul deserves access to a brighter future through high-quality education and workforce training. We will support efforts to expand schools that offer high-quality education along with a wide array of supportive services for children and families in every neighborhood throughout our city. Working together, we will prepare our residents to secure good-paying jobs, but put them on a path to creating their own businesses and new jobs right here in Saint Paul. We will stand up for our workers by fighting for a $15 minimum wage. No one working full-time should have to raise his/her family in poverty. Places We will work to make Saint Paul a destination for families, businesses, and organizations to plant their roots. Our vision is to create aligned learning communities that prepare our young people to go anywhere and compete in a global economy and a city so vibrant and rich with opportunity, they choose to plant their roots and grow their families here, in Saint Paul. We will create flexible work spaces to meet the needs of new and existing businesses and neighborhoods that offer safe transportation options from driving and busing to biking and walking. We will work to make Saint Paul a destination for families, businesses, and organizations to plant their roots. New development along the Green Line has demonstrated the incredible potential to add density, tax base, and community assets along key corridors throughout our city. As new transit lines connect our neighborhoods to the historic Union Depot, we will encourage the kind of transit-oriented development and placemaking that the market, and families, demand and deserve. As we create new spaces, we will ensure they reflect our shared Saint Paul values and diverse cultural communities. We are fortunate to have a city that is incredibly rich in diversity, yet we haven’t fully realized it. We need to capitalize on those strengths and embrace our identity as a global microcosm, ensuring that we are welcoming and inclusive to all of our residents. Partnership Too often, city staff are set up to play the role of referee; as projects and new developments move forward, they blow the whistle when things go out of bounds. I will work with city staff to make it clear that when people want to invest in our city – whether residents or business owners – our job is to roll out the red carpet and ask how we can help. Together, we will transform our approach from reactive referee into proactive champion, coach, and teammate for investors large and small. Residents and businesses will have a true partner in City Hall, working to help them succeed. If a business owner wants to open a new restaurant or storefront, our staff will work right alongside them to explain what steps to take, make the process as smooth as possible, and help achieve their goals. If a homeowner wishes to improve his/her property, our staff will walk them through the process and navigate the often-complicated rules and regulations. We will work to streamline the process for issuing permits and licenses, removing barriers to investment. Community Policing Our most precious and invaluable public safety asset is the trust that flows between our officers and our community. Sadly, this fragile trust has been damaged, both in Saint Paul and across the country, in ways that hurt all of us. We must work together to rebuild, strengthen, and protect all of our faith and confidence in our police department. I possess a unique perspective on our department. As the son of a retired officer, I grew up praying daily for the safety of our Saint Paul Police. As an African American man, I have personally experienced racial profiling and unexplainable police stops since I was 16 years old. These experiences have fueled my passion and work on quality, accountable policing over the past 10 years. As a City Council Member, I advocated for police accountability in the aftermath of the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, and worked with our former chief to rewrite our department’s policies governing taser use. As an advisor to Governor Dayton, I worked to inform the Governor’s perspective and statements, facilitated realtime communication with protestors and other public stakeholders, and helped set up the Governor’s Council on Law Enforcement and Community Relations after Philando Castile was killed by police this past summer. As Mayor, I will work closely with our Chief to implement community policing best practices, including: Ensure Saint Paul remains a Sanctuary City, and that our police are never called upon to enforce federal immigration policy. Eliminate racial, religious, and every other type of profiling so no one in our community ever feels targeted by police. Implement Character-Based hiring practices that focus on identifying and recruiting individuals with the quality character and temperament, who have a stake in our community and reflect the diversity of our city’s neighborhoods. Leverage mobile technology and neighborhood partner organizations to make it easier to provide feedback about an officer’s performance. Decriminalize mental health and addiction issues by equipping officers with training and resources to help people in crisis get the help they need. Encourage, incentivize and reward officers for volunteer hours served in our city’s schools, rec centers, libraries and neighborhood organizations. Maximize transparency and accountability of our Internal Affairs and Civilian Review process, and foster public, ongoing dialog about the role and relationship of police in our community, including public reporting of aggregate level information about our Civilian Review process. Finally, I’ll work with our Police Chief to review documents like President Obama’s 21st Century Policing Task Force report; the Saint Paul City Attorney’s 2015 audit of the Saint Paul Police Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission; the historic 2001 agreement between our police department and the Saint Paul NAACP; and guidelines and best practices issued by the US Department of Justice, for every opportunity to improve police practices and restore trust in Saint Paul.	”
—Melvin Carter III (2017)

Notable endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section displays endorsements this individual made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope.

Notable candidate endorsements by Melvin Carter III

Endorsee	Election	Stage	Outcome
Zuki Ellis  source  (Nonpartisan)	Saint Paul Board of Education At-large (2023)	General	Lost General
Amy Klobuchar  source	President of the United States (2020)		Withdrew in Convention

Notable ballot measure endorsements by Melvin Carter III

Measure	Position	Outcome
St. Paul, Minnesota, City Question 1, Allow for Administrative Citations Referendum (November 2025)  source	Support	Approved
St. Paul, Minnesota, Question 1, Limits on Rent Increases Initiative (November 2021)  source	Support	Approved

Noteworthy events

Events and activity following the death of George Floyd

See also: Events following the death of George Floyd and responses in select cities from May 29-31, 2020

Carter was mayor of St. Paul during the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, when events and activity took place in cities across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd.

Events in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, area began on Tuesday, May 26, the day after George Floyd's death. On May 28, Gov. Tim Walz (D) activated and deployed the Minnesota National Guard to the cities at the request of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D). That night, people occupied and set fire to the Third Precinct police department building in Minneapolis. On May 29, Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter III (D) instituted curfews in the cities.

To read more about the death of George Floyd and subsequent events, click [show] to the right.

On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers arrested Floyd, a Black man, after receiving a call that he had made a purchase with a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, a White officer, arrived at the scene and pressed his knee onto Floyd's neck as Floyd laid face-down on the street in handcuffs. Both the Hennepin County Medical Examiner and an independent autopsy conducted by Floyd's family ruled Floyd's death as a homicide stemming from the incident. The medical examiner's report, prepared by Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Allecia Wilson, said that it was "not a legal determination of culpability or intent, and should not be used to usurp the judicial process." On April 20, 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in relation to Floyd's death. Floyd's death was filmed and shared widely, leading to activity regarding racism, civil rights, and police use of force. The first events took place in Minneapolis-St. Paul on May 26. An event in Chicago organized by Chance the Rapper and Rev. Michael Pfleger took place the same day, making it the first major city outside of Minneapolis to host an event in response to Floyd's death.

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