In block capital letters, Pat Harris’ campaign mailers tout his “Progressive Record of Leadership for St. Paul.”

In late September, the author of St. Paul’s “Sanctuary City” ordinance released a plan for “progressive policing” that calls for greater diversity in law enforcement hiring and continued anti-bias training.

And, while other candidates tout their progressive politics by saying they’ll raise the minimum wage, Harris notes he’s the only candidate who has already done so.

As a board member with the Metropolitan Airports Commission, Harris, 51, helped ensure airport wages go up every time the state minimum wage does.

In a more conservative city, Harris — a ubiquitous presence on charitable boards who once flew to Mexico at his own expense to help donate a library bookmobile — might be labeled the progressive candidate for mayor.

But in a crowded field, the former St. Paul City Council member is spending considerable time and money trying to convince St. Paul voters the label fits.

RUNNING AS A PROGRESSIVE

Not everyone agrees. Some critics point to his decision in 2004 to vote against a citywide ban on smoking in restaurants.

Still others recall a protracted debate over whether to boost cycling and pedestrian safety along Jefferson Avenue by closing off left-hand turns onto Cleveland Avenue. Arguing the traffic diverter would push vehicles onto surrounding streets, Harris fought the effort and won.

More recently, activists on issues such as police reform questioned his backing from the law enforcement union.

“It’s going to be really hard, Pat, to represent us on issues of race and policing when you’re endorsed by the St. Paul Police Federation,” said community organizer Carlos Garcia Velasco, during a tense exchange at a meet-the-candidates event at Neighborhood House on St. Paul’s West Side.

Earlier this month Harris unveiled plans for improving police-community relations and reducing gun crimes. It included adding 50 new police officers, raising the eyebrows of minority leaders calling for police reforms.

Taqee Khaled, a business consultant who sits on the St. Paul Planning Commission, had critical words for Harris’ campaign literature on racial issues.

“I don’t like the generic paragraphs of copy about ‘valuing diversity, inclusion and equity’ and how that’s going to be front and center,” Khaled said. “Without detail, these continue to remain on the list of ‘nice to haves’ and ultimately turn into afterthoughts. I would challenge him to think a lot harder on racial equity than he has.”

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Meanwhile, Harris angered housing advocates by opposing a vote to rezone 135 acres of Ford Motor Co. land in Highland Park for mostly residential development.

He said the master plan was too dense, lacked sufficient green space, and gave away the city’s zoning leverage with future developers.

Still, some of his proposals draw criticism from those on the right.

“I don’t think Harris is that conservative. He’s not getting out in front of the crime stuff, the tax stuff,” said Dino Guerin, a former St. Paul fire captain who served on both the city council and Ramsey County Commission. “I know he’s endorsed by the police, but he’s really playing it safe, and it may cost him.”

MANY ENDORSEMENTS

Harris has received official endorsements from a broad swath of leaders and organizations — impressive backing from both labor and business groups.

Former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer, St. Paul City Council members Chris Tolbert and Dan Bostrom, former Metropolitan Council Chair Sue Haigh, the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee and the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors are among those supporting him.

Harris also has backing from law enforcement and labor unions, including the St. Paul Police Federation, St. Paul Firefighters Local 21, the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local Union 1, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 110, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49, Teamsters Joint Council 32 and Teamsters Local 120.

Harris, a senior vice president with BMO Harris Bank, leads the race in campaign donations thanks to money from real estate developers, labor groups associated with the construction industry and law enforcement.

Executives tied to a single development company — Dominium — made at least 27 donations to the Harris campaign in the last half of 2017 alone.

Another well-funded committee that appears supportive of Harris, “Building a Better St. Paul,” is financially backed by the St. Paul Police Federation, Teamsters Local 120, the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and other St. Paul business interests.

GROWING UP WITH NO CLASS BOUNDARIES

Interviewed by the Pioneer Press in 1993, then-27-year-old Harris proudly told a reporter he grew up on a block in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood with “no class boundaries” where a sheet-metal worker, a physician, a lawyer and a mail carrier all lived.

He spent time working in his father’s downtown St. Paul office-supply warehouse, and his mother joined the company after years as a substitute teacher.

Harris would later go on to serve as a legislative aide to Ramsey County commissioners Dick Wedell and Sue Haigh and chairman the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood board.

He represented St. Paul’s Ward 3 — the neighborhoods of Mac-Groveland and Highland Park — on the city council from 2000 to 2012, as his older brother Mike Harris did for six years before him.

His wife, Laura, is a conference planner and former lobbyist for the League of Minnesota Cities. They have four school-aged children.

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Harris and his supporters say his combination of business savvy and concern for the poor make him the ideal candidate.

When the city faced steep cuts in state funding in the early 2000s, “I had pieces of paper in front of me that said we’re going to lay off 80 police officers and close libraries,” Harris recalled. “And I said I don’t think that’s smart. You had to lead out of that, and I’m the one that’s going to be able to lead through those times. I avoided those cuts.”

His work — selling money-market investment funds to municipalities for the Royal Bank of Canada — dovetailed with his mission as a council member.

During his tenure, he led an effort to merge and effectively refinance city debt related to St. Paul’s municipal parking ramps, a decision that has saved city taxpayers $4 million annually. He spent a dozen years on the Board of Water Commissioners, which oversees the St. Paul Regional Water utility and sets water rates for city residents.

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Former City Council Member Dave Thune recalled how Harris called for the creation of a St. Paul Public Library agency — separate from the city council but still composed of council members — to pursue its own bond funding.

The result funded construction of the Rondo and Arlington branches and other prominent library projects, Thune said.

Harris believes that without so much as raising the city tax levy, he can find up to $100 million in targeted small-business loans for the city’s low-income neighborhoods. His strategy would be to shift the city’s existing long-term investment portfolio to community banks, on the condition they provide community loans.

However, Ethan Osten, a North End District Council member, said Harris is holding back on details where he’d get money for initiatives like adding 50 police officers.

“The cuts are a policy in themselves,” said Osten. “Keeping half of your policies secret because they’ll be controversial isn’t leadership.”

A CHANGING ST. PAUL

Harris’ ties to Macalester-Groveland and Highland Park are deep. And voter turnout in the city’s southwestern corner often leads the city — a possible advantage for him on Nov. 7.

But St. Paul’s population recently exceeded 300,000 residents after a long period of stagnation. That growth — fueled in part by immigrants — has introduced more diversity, as well as more poverty.

Harris has worked to woo these groups. One of his first official campaign events was at the Darul-Uloom Islamic Center on the city’s East Side.

“We have people from every community on board,” said campaign supporter Tyrone Terrill, a longstanding activist in St. Paul’s black community, who once served as director of the city’s Human Rights Department. “I’ve worked with him for eight years. He was a strong supporter of the Human Rights Department when I was there.”

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In 2004, with victims of domestic violence in mind, Harris authored the city’s Sanctuary City ordinance. It prevents St. Paul Police from asking the immigration status of those who call for help.

Harris notes that it wasn’t that long ago that his family lived its own immigrant story. His maternal grandparents came from Armenia, fleeing genocide, and his mother’s sister taught them to read English.

Melissa Jamrock, a fellow graduate of Marquette University, said Harris subscribed to the school’s Jesuit values of supporting the whole person, rather than seeing human needs in a silo.

“A lot of people can talk ‘progressive,’ but it’s important to look at an actual record of results,” said Jamrock, a DFL organizer in St. Paul. “He was doing these progressive things before it was the popular thing to do.”