Democrat Melvin Carter III has been elected mayor of St. Paul.

Carter received about 51 percent of first-choice votes in Tuesday’s election to win the St. Paul mayoral race. He is the city’s first African-American mayor.

Local news organizations declared Carter victorious over nine other mayoral candidates Tuesday night with 96 percent of precincts reporting.

Democrat Pat Harris trailed Carter by almost 25 percent as of 11 p.m. Tuesday. Harris campaigned with staffers and student volunteers at St. Thomas Tuesday afternoon, handing out flyers and meeting students.

Carter served on the St. Paul City Council from 2008 to 2013 and received endorsements for mayor from Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith and Minnesota State Rep. Ilhan Omar, among others. He is a fourth-generation St. Paul resident.

The current St. Paul mayor, Chris Coleman, did not seek reelection because he is running for governor in 2018.

Minneapolis had two precincts left to report as of 11 p.m. Jacob Frey was leading the city’s mayoral election, according to the Star Tribune. Tom Hoch, Hennepin Theatre Trust president, incumbent Betsy Hodges, state Rep. Raymond Dehn and former St. Thomas law professor Nekima Levy-Pounds trail him in the polls.

Read more TommieMedia election coverage here and here.

Emily Sweeney can be reached at swee4225@stthomas.edu