The deadline to file for office in the St. Paul mayor’s race isn’t until mid-August, but that hasn’t stopped a slate of candidates from coming forward.

In fact, five mayoral forums are scheduled in March alone, and one is already sold out. More are coming around the bend in April.

The five announced candidates to date are former city council members Pat Harris and Melvin Carter, sitting council member Dai Thao, former school board member Tom Goldstein and author Elizabeth Dickinson.

It remains to be seen whether the St. Paul mayor’s race will be won by the most well-funded candidate, but some hopefuls aren’t taking chances. The 2016 and 2017 campaign finance reports on file with Ramsey County Elections show the money already pouring in.

Through Jan. 26, Carter — who launched his campaign more than a year ago — took the lead with more than $150,000. A January filing showed Harris had raised $54,000. Thao had raised more than $27,000. Dickinson had raised more than $2,800. Goldstein had raised $3,600, on top of $3,000 leftover from his previous campaign for city council in 2015.

EARLY ENDORSEMENTS

Following Mass at Lumen Christi Catholic Church on Sunday, Harris held a campaign launch event at the Darul Uloom Islamic Center — formerly the school attached to St. John’s Catholic Church south of East Seventh Street.

The crowd included St. Paul council members Chris Tolbert and Jane Prince, as well as former council member Mike Harris, the candidate’s brother.

In addition to touting his board work with Catholic Charities, Books for Africa and Serving Our Troops, Harris promised that as mayor he would find funds for $100 million in small-business loans in “targeted neighborhoods.”

Harris recently secured the endorsement of St. Paul Fire Fighters IAFF Local 21, the union representing some 400 rank-and-file firefighters — the largest fire local in the state — which put up a call for campaign volunteers on its website.

The endorsement is more than just political housekeeping. Local 21 issued a resolution of censure last year against Fire Chief Tim Butler, who has more than two years left on his contract, and is looking for candidates in its corner.

Harris isn’t the only candidate aggressively seeking endorsements. On his campaign website, Carter’s list of supporters includes U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and state Rep. Rena Moran, DFL-St. Paul.

Dickinson ran for mayor as a Green Party candidate in 2005 and is expected to seek the party’s endorsement once again. She has used her Facebook page to campaign for a $15 minimum wage.

Goldstein, who recently criticized the mayor’s climate change strategy as tepid and overdue, has been a persistent critic of the planned Major League Soccer stadium in the Midway. He advocates that the city would be better served building a citywide fiber network that ensures affordable, high-speed internet access for residents, businesses and nonprofits.

Dai Thao, who has been endorsed by state Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL-St. Paul, and Ramsey County AFSCME Local 8 professional employees, has recently used his position on the city council to help assemble a task force on poverty and denounce recent White House policy such as the federal travel ban.

DUAL ROLES FOR SPOKESWOMAN

When dozens of Hmong activists entered the office lobby of the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners with megaphones and picket signs, office staff called the protest unprecedented. Dai Thao later said he was not involved in coordinating the Dec. 20 actions of the “Racial Equity on Johnson and Ames Committee.” However, his legislative aide was in the crowd and his former office assistant was the one yelling into a megaphone.

There’s one more connection between the Racial Equity on Johnson and Ames Committee and Dai Thao’s mayoral campaign. In recent media releases, spokeswoman Yingya Vang is listed as the primary contact for both groups.

“I am actually his campaign coordinator,” said Yingya Vang, who said Dai Thao was not involved in the protest or the racial equity committee. “We’re our own entity. He’s not part of it.”

The racial equity committee has asked for a four-way traffic signal at Johnson Parkway and East Ames Avenue, near the entrance to the Hmong Village Shopping Center. But Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough and county traffic engineers have called it the wrong approach to traffic coordination at the intersection.

Thao’s background includes several years as an organizer and recruiting mentor with TakeAction Minnesota, a St. Paul-based political action group.

FIVE MAYORAL FORUMS IN MARCH

The Ward 6 restaurant and bar on Payne Avenue will host a mayoral forum at 7 p.m. on March 12. The ticketed event is free, but sold out.

The Midway Chamber of Commerce has scheduled a half-day “economic summit” on March 15.

After light refreshments, the event opens with a panel of mayoral candidates, who will take questions from a moderator from 8 to 9 a.m. at the University of St. Thomas Anderson Student Center. Tickets are $75 to $35, depending upon membership and the number of sessions chosen. More information is at Midwaychamber.com.

The St. Paul DFL will host a mayoral forum for DFL candidates at 11 a.m. on March 25 at the Dayton’s Bluff Recreation Center, 800 Conway St. The event is free and open to anyone.

Save Our St. Paul Neighborhoods, a group of St. Paul residents opposed to housing tear-downs, has organized a mayoral forum from 7 to 9 p.m. March 27 in the basement lecture hall of Macalester College’s Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center, at the southwest corner of Snelling and Grand avenues. The event is free and open to anyone.

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation will host a candidate forum and meet-and-greet from 6 to 8 p.m. on March 29 at the St. Paul Labor Center, 353 W. Seventh St.

For the candidates, next month is shaping up to be just as busy. The St. Paul DFL will host another mayoral forum April 10 at Concordia University, and the coalition known as St. Paul Strong will host a mayoral forum April 26 at the St. Paul Neighborhood Network in Vandalia Tower.

Given the city’s ranked-choice election system — which eliminates primaries in mayoral races — it remains to be seen whether candidates will abide by the endorsements from their respective political parties for what’s officially a non-partisan position.

The St. Paul DFL will begin hosting ward caucuses and ward conventions April 22, to be followed by the city endorsing convention June 17.