By: Saura Jost

This election day – I’m ranking Melvin Carter first for Mayor and Voting yes on both ballot questions. I’d like to share with you why.

I’ll start with why I’m strongly supporting Mayor Carter for re-election.

First of all - Melvin Carter loves St. Paul. There are only so many people I know that share that love for the city and can turn that love into action for the better of our neighbors (I promise only half of them are Central Grads!). He values our people - you can see it in every interaction, at every grand opening, groundbreaking, or event he shows up to. This love is what I believe drives both of us day in and day out for the city that made us who we are today, especially through extremely challenging times which we are facing now.

We have been through a pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, an opioid epidemic, and in this year alone - the start of second Trump administration, the assassination of the speaker of our state house, a mass shooting in our neighboring city, and a cyberattack, to name a few.

Under Mayor Carter’s leadership and initiatives, we have come through that with significant improvements to public safety with double digit reductions in homicides, investments in our infrastructure so that it will be built to last, and over a billion dollars development planned with units of housing being built in every corner of our city. He’s also nationally recognized for finding creative ways to invest in our city’s best asset – our people: Increasing the minimum wage, making sports and swimming free for kids, eliminating late fees at our libraries, or erasing medical debt for tens of thousands of residents. All investments that make our city better – they enhance our core services, expand our revenue sources to reduce the property tax burden, and improve outcomes for our residents.

He’s also stood firm against federal pressure to undermine our values from resisting ICE cooperation and the threats to cut our local funding to advancing local gun control ordinances that our community has asked us for, ready to take effect if the state acts. Mayor Carter puts our city in the strongest position to defend our city from the disaster that is the federal government.

There have been so many moments in my two years here where we were faced with a problem where a way out or a path forward was so difficult to see but I’ve watched him find a way to get us through every challenge we have faced, coming out stronger on the other side. That type of determination and work ethic, is something I greatly value.

My job as a councilmember and that of a mayor is truly thankless and if you read my email inboxes or voicemails (thank you so much to my staff!) they would be filled with messages that would make me believe I am terrible at my job and that our city is going to hell in a handbasket (as my grandmother would say) but we know that happy people do not write us as my aide, Tom, reminds me.

I believe it is the love for our city and especially for our children’s future that motivates us every day to get up again and keep fighting for that vision. I want to thank our Mayor for his sacrifices, his resilience and for tirelessly working hard for the city I love.

As an engineer, my favorite part of my job is seeing buildings get built – seeing work come to life. There are moments that you realize your effort has a positive impact on peoples lives in many ways you don’t even know. Whether we are breaking ground at Highland Bridge to build new homes for our all neighbors, opening up a state of the art basketball court in the neighborhood you grew up in, when you’re out in community and someone thanks you for your work (which means so much!), or hearing from a constituent who you think you helped with something small but realize your effort to get their questions answered helped them through the toughest time in their life . If I had to guess – I think this is why the mayor says he has the best job in the world because I feel the same way.

In this moment, we need bold and steady leadership to see our vision through for a better St. Paul. Melvin Carter is that leader and there is no one else that I trust to lead our city forward to the next 3 years and beyond.

Now to the ballot questions:

Now, more than ever, we need to support one another, especially our kids. I am a proud product and parent of SPPS and wouldn’t be where I am today without my education. I’ve also watched my son learn and grow so much since starting school and every student deserves that opportunity for their future. Similar to our city, our schools are facing serious budget challenges made worse by federal funding cuts. The school board has exhausted every option before coming to voters, from cutting positions, services, closing schools and spending some of its reserves. Supporting the referendum is essential to maintain current quality programming in our classrooms and ensure our kids have the resources they need to be successful. Flip your ballot over and vote Yes.

Finally, the city ballot question will ask you if the city should be allowed to issue administrative citations when ordinances are violated. Administrative Citations gives us a much-needed enforcement tool—used by nearly every other city—to hold violators accountable. Whether it’s wage theft, unsafe housing, or failure to pay minimum wage, this measure ensures fair and reasonable enforcement of our ordinances. Vote Yes.

We’re facing tough times, but I believe in our city and our people. Our kids deserve safe, well-funded schools. Our neighbors deserve a city that upholds its values. Together, we have a vision for a city that takes care of one another. And we all deserve leadership that will guide us forward.

This year, your ballot is simple: Rank Melvin Carter first. Vote Yes twice.

Saint Paul: Let’s keep moving forward—together.

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