Molly Coleman wins St. Paul City Council Ward 4 special election

Molly Coleman won the Ward 4 seat for the Saint Paul City Council in the Aug. 12 election. She was seated later that month.
“I really just wanted to say a huge thank you to the community. We’ve had an incredible coalition of people who believe in Saint Paul and a brighter future in front of us,” Coleman said.
Coleman will serve for the three remaining years of former council member Mitra Jalali’s term. Jalali resigned earlier this year due to health issues. The seat has been filled by interim city council member Matt Privratsky, who agreed not to run in the special election. He was selected by the other six city council members earlier this year through an application process.
The four candidates vying for the seat were Coleman, Chauntyll Allen, Cole Hanson and Carolyn Will. Ward 4 which includes Hamline-Midway, Merriam Park, Saint Anthony Park neighborhoods, and areas within the Macalester-Groveland and Como neighborhoods.
Allen is a St. Paul Public Schools board member. Coleman is an advocacy group co-founder. Hanson is a public health educator. Will is a public relations consultant.
Of the four candidates facing off in the special election, the issues they campaigned on were pretty similarly aligned. Property taxes, safer neighborhoods, public land development projects, and making it more equitable for working families were amongst the top concerns for candidates running.
In Hamline-Midway, issues of neighborhood safety were raised, especially in the area around Kimball Court. Yet another neighborhood issue is addressing vacant storefronts and how those can be occupied again. Although Midway Marketplace and the recently closed Midway Cub are in Ward 1, they are adjacent to Ward 4 and have drawn much attention.
“Throughout my life, I have been guided by two foundational truths. The first is that, for too many people, the structures of our society don’t work. The second is that we have the ability to do something about it. It is for that reason that I am running for city council,” Coleman said prior to the election.
When addressing how to help students and how funding for schools can be better, Coleman said, “Working to support students, teachers, and school districts by expanding funding and helping as a partner in city hall on the council.”
Ranked-choice voting was used in this election as it has been in Saint Paul since 2011. Voters rank the candidates of their choice, in this election from first to fourth choice. Only the first-choice votes are counted in the initial round. That was the deciding decision of this election with Coleman receiving more than a 50% majority of votes cast. Had Coleman received fewer than 50 % of the vote, a runoff would have been held on Aug. 15.
Coleman received 3,359 votes for 52% of the vote. Will came in second with 1,369 votes at 21% of the total. Hanson tallied 1,124 votes at 18%, with Allen getting 552 votes for 9% of the total. There 11 write-in votes.