Developer Steve Wellington isn’t planning on sitting out the St. Paul mayor’s race, but after 51 years of living in the capital city, he’s not rushing to write any of the candidates a check, either. Three of the five candidates, he’s written off as too inexperienced or non-serious.

That leaves Mayor Melvin Carter and state Rep. Kaohly Her, Carter’s former employee and most visible challenger, who officially entered the race in early August, exactly three months before Election Day.

Carter, a two-term incumbent, is “capable, but not very oriented toward business people,” said Wellington, noting the director of the city’s Department of Planning and Economic Development recently resigned, leaving a big question mark over the direction of city planning and economic initiatives.

“I’m a solid Democrat … but I feel the city needs a more solid and focused economic development program. But (Carter is) charismatic and cares about his city. He’s trying to pull St. Paul up a bit. I’m really wrestling with it,” said Wellington, who owns some two dozen buildings in St. Paul, including the Pitch apartments near Snelling and University avenues.

“We’re passionate believers in what St. Paul can be,” he added. “(The Midway is) not going in the right direction. I’ve met with Her. It’s kind of ‘starting over with someone.’ I’m really not ready to endorse either one. … I’m kind of stumped. That’s why I’m saying we need leadership.”

Staying on the sidelines

Given the well-documented struggles of the city’s tax base — including storefront vacancies in downtown St. Paul, the Midway, Dale and University avenues and other corners of the city suffering from visible wear-and-tear — Wellington isn’t the only key voice on the fence in the five-way mayor’s race.

Some prominent political donors, like the St. Paul Area Chamber’s political action committee, have chosen not to endorse anyone, citing frustration with what they’ve deemed a “sense of stagnation” around declining commercial property values downtown and rising property taxes.

With members split, the St. Paul Building Trades Council is also staying on the sidelines. The St. Paul DFL, which is in the process of reconstituting itself and updating its bylaws in advance of even-year municipal elections, will not issue a mayoral endorsement this season.

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Candidates have similar platforms

Even some voters who have chosen sides agree with critics saying that at least on paper, the two most prominent mayoral candidates have platforms and voting records that are closely aligned. Carter launched free college savings accounts for the city’s newborns and signed into law a citywide $15 minimum wage; Her, as the mayor’s former policy director, worked closely on the rollout of both initiatives.

Both candidates support a school levy increase that appears on the November ballot, as well as voting “yes” on a question involving amending the city charter to allow the city council to impose administrative citations, or non-criminal fines for ordinance violations. Both candidates are backing the mayor’s proposed 5.3% increase to the city’s property tax levy.

Her’s “pitch appears to be ‘I will do what Melvin does but better,’” wrote Tom Basgen, a city council aide, in a recent online endorsement for Carter. “Good, I agree, Melvin is a great match for the city’s values but I won’t stand up from a cheeseburger that I am enjoying because someone told me there’s a cheeseburger two miles down the road.”

Basgen noted that critics citing a sense of “stagnation” have lost sight of how basic new realities like remote work and a Republican-controlled White House and Congress have fundamentally reshaped the playing field for St. Paul and other urban areas.

“We are trying to find the world from before 2020 and discovering it is no longer there,” he wrote. “What you feel in the politics of now is the tension between those still searching for what we lost and those trying to find what we are now.”

Endorsements roll in

Individual political leaders and labor groups, however, continue to line up behind either candidate.

Her has drawn official endorsements from city council member Nelsie Yang, the Sheetmetal Workers Local Union 10, the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors, Teamsters Joint Council 32 and a series of fellow state lawmakers, including state Rep. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, and state Rep. Zach Stephenson, leader of the House DFL.

Her is a “bold and authentic leader,” wrote the Teamsters in their endorsement. “She has shown up on our picket lines in solidarity, stood with us in passing some of the most comprehensive labor legislation including unemployment for hourly school workers and banning captive audience meetings.”

“Most of all, she always answers our call,” they added.

Carter has drawn official endorsements from the SEIU Minnesota State Council, the Minnesota Nurses Association, IUPAT District Council 82, Steamfitters/Pipefitters Local 455, Sprinkler Fitters 417, Plumbers Local 34, IBEW Local 110 and Faith in Minnesota, a progressive advocacy group.

In its endorsement statement, Faith in Minnesota stated that it had collected nearly 750 surveys from across the city over the past year. It used them to identify key priorities, including bolstering youth engagement and addiction services, passing the administrative citations charter amendment, enforcing the rent stabilization ordinance and “fighting back against the Trump Administration and MAGA politicians who are stealing our healthcare and disappearing our people.”

“In recent conversations, we were energized by Mayor Carter’s clear commitment to these issues and to building a St. Paul for all of us, no exceptions,” reads their statement.

The mayor also has garnered the support of prominent elected officials from within the state’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, including Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, state Attorney General Keith Ellison, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, state Sens. Sandy Pappas and Clare Oumou Verbeten, state Rep. Samakab Hussien, Ramsey County Commissioners Rena Moran and Garrison McMurtrey, and city council members Anika Bowie, Molly Coleman, Cheniqua Johnson and Saura Jost.

It’s unclear which candidate city council President Rebecca Noecker and council Vice President HwaJeong Kim will back. “I’ve endorsed none of the candidates,” said Noecker on Friday. “I don’t expect to. I’ll be following the campaign closely, and I’ll make up my mind just like the rest of the voters in St. Paul.”

Under St. Paul’s ranked-choice election system, voters may rank up to six candidates, meaning a resident could in theory support all five candidates. In addition to Carter and Her, the ballot will include Yan Chen, a biophysicist; Mike Hilborn, who owns a snow-plowing and power-washing company; and Adam Dullinger, a mechanical engineer.

The election will be held Nov. 4.

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