Kaohly Her put her doctoral studies on hold and declared her candidacy for mayor of St. Paul in August, just three months before the upcoming Nov. 4 election, a decision that would put her on an immediate collision course with Mayor Melvin Carter, her former employer.

It’s not a choice she made lightly, she tells voters. But when July arrived, “I hadn’t seen any lit pieces, any door knocking,” said Her, 52, a state representative for the area spanning Mississippi River Boulevard to Cathedral Hill, in an hour-long interview Wednesday. “I called (Carter) up about what he was going to do differently in another term.”

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She was unsatisfied with the response. “With all the issues I was seeing in our city, there had to be something that needed to change,” said Her, who lost a c

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