2026 Election: Ramsey County Commissioner District 5

Thanks to Block Portrait Studios, Lehner Law Office, and Clothesline Laundromat for their support.

We talked with Maria Isa Perez-Vega and Rebecca Noecker, the candidates running for the Ramsey County Commissioner District 5 seat. Our candidate questionnaire covers priorities, taxes, immigration response, homelessness, and more.

• More: See our full voter’s guide for information on other local races.

Race profile: Ramsey County commissioner is a non-partisan position elected to a four-year term. District 5 represents the West Side, downtown, Highland Park, Macalester Groveland, West Seventh, and Dayton’s Bluff. Incumbent Rafael Ortega is not running, making this an open seat.

Who’s running:

• Maria Isa Perez-Vega – Currently a state representative, and also a musician and producer.
• Rebecca Noecker – Currently the St. Paul City Council president.

Candidate Questions

We asked the candidates a series of six questions and asked them to respond in 250 words or less. The questions cover priorities, strengths and weaknesses of the county, taxes, immigration response, transparency around Flock cameras, and homelessness.

Priorities: What are your two to three top priorities and how will you address those issues to actually accomplish something?

Maria Isa Perez-Vega: The county’s top job is to take care of county residents who need support. The county provides medical care, SNAP benefits, and housing assistance to people who wouldn’t make it otherwise. My number one priority will be to protect them from the cruelties and cuts by this federal government, which are severely undermining critical services.

My second priority will be to revitalize downtown Saint Paul. As a state rep, I invested in the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, the Saints ballpark, and brought 310,000 visitors to downtown with the Latino Museum. I also invested in the RiversEdge project. I look forward to working with my colleagues at the county to help build projects like RiversEdge and Rice Creek Commons. We must expand the county tax base through targeted downtown development, which will help relieve the tax burden on residents as well as making downtown safer and more welcoming.

Finally, I will work to make community engagement more inclusive and more effective. Too often traditional community engagement is dominated by people who don’t even use the service under discussion. We will center the voices and needs of residents.

Rebecca Noecker:

1. Standing up for our people. Our community has been under attack from our federal government, and the County must increase protections for all residents to ensure people feel safe to go to work and school and to live their lives freely.

I’d propose a strong Ramsey County separation ordinance that prevents County staff from cooperating with federal agents, a county-wide ban on masking for all law enforcement, and an end to our contract with Flock and any other third party that puts our residents’ data at risk.

2. Affordability. Too many Ramsey County residents are struggling with the cost of everyday living. We cannot continue to raise property taxes and place more and more of the burden on our people.

First, I’d get county-owned land back on the tax rolls. The County needs to act with urgency to develop these land parcels and expand our tax base. Second, I’d create a countywide Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program to encourage tax-exempt organizations to contribute to the cost of County services and share responsibility for the success of our community.

3. Homelessness.  We are failing our unhoused neighbors in every way. A shortage of supportive housing and shelter space is leading to a growing number of people experiencing homelessness with nowhere to go. Ramsey County needs to invest in supportive housing with on-site mental and chemical health services, and the County needs to fund outreach workers who can connect people living outside to housing, counseling, jobs and more.

Strengths & weaknesses: What do you think is the county’s greatest strength? How will you build on that? What is the county’s greatest weakness? How will you improve in that area?

Rebecca Noecker: The County’s greatest strength is its people. County employees work hard every day on some of the most pressing problems in our community.  They come up with creative ideas and they’re passionate about serving County residents.  I will make sure County employees are paid a competitive wage and that they have ample opportunity for professional development and career advancement.

The County’s greatest weakness is that its policymakers are not moving quickly enough. After 30 years of planning and $12 million of public funds, the County failed on its promise to redevelop the W. 7th Street Riverview Corridor – and it moved $730 million away from W. 7th Street toward “shovel-ready” projects in the suburbs. Meanwhile, the most promising redevelopment opportunity in the state – the RiversEdge site in downtown St. Paul – has sat vacant for a decade. Homelessness is growing in Ramsey County and yet we haven’t built the supportive housing or designed the wrap-around services we so desperately need. And the list goes on.  

I would bring a fresh sense of energy and urgency to these critical issues. I would move to develop County-owned lands on a much more aggressive timetable. I would push for more supportive housing and I would convene state, city and regional partners to develop a comprehensive homelessness funding strategy. And I would develop a regular report-out to the community so the County can be held accountable for progress.

Maria Isa Perez-Vega: The county’s strength is that it provides needed services and has delivered significant improvements (like creating the Environmental Center and rebuilding the Union Depot and improving the El Rio and Humboldt football fields) without a lot of fanfare, even as it has come under intense pressure with Trump’s cuts and attempts to limit residents’ ability to access them. Its weakness is that people don’t know what the county is doing behind the scenes. I will raise Ramsey County’s visibility and bring new energy as well as reform our public engagement to be more inclusive.

Taxes: Rising property taxes continue to be a challenge. Do you support the current property tax proposal for Ramsey County? How do you balance local government needs with what residents can bear?

Maria Isa Perez-Vega: When I speak with people throughout our district, property tax burden is a top concern that I hear again and again. Folks are being priced out of their homes. We need to work to keep property taxes sustainable for residents. To do this will need multiple strategies: (a) expand our tax base by creating commercial development downtown and elsewhere in the county, to relieve the tax pressure on homeowners; (b) maximize other funding sources to fund essential county services; (c) carefully steward the county budget to control property taxes.  I will leverage my strong relationships with state legislators to try to get them to pay more towards shared responsibilities such as homelessness.  

Ramsey County, like all the metro counties, is being strongly impacted because of Trump’s cuts caused by the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill act, which has slashed support for essential services. SNAP and Medicaid expanded work and eligibility changes require more staff and the federal match for SNAP administrative costs is decreasing from 50% to 25%. As a reference, Dakota County is considering between 16- 21% levy increase while Washington and Hennepin are looking at increases between 7 and 9%.  Ramsey County manager has preliminarily proposed a 8.25% increase. As your commissioner, I will push hard to deploy the strategies above to limit increases and fight back against the federal cuts that are causing havoc with county services.

Rebecca Noecker: Ramsey County residents are struggling to afford daily life, and tax hikes are part of the problem. While the currently proposed tax increase is necessary to ensure adequate staffing at our corrections center and to compensate for federal cuts to medical assistance and SNAP, the County needs a long-term, proactive strategy to lower the tax burden on residents.

First, we need to invest in downtown. Downtown vacancies are depleting vibrancy and raising residential property taxes as commercial values plummet. The County must move with urgency to develop key downtown parcels like RiversEdge, 555 Wabasha and 160 E Kellogg, getting them back on the tax rolls. In addition, the County pledged $100 million to housing and infrastructure improvements downtown back in April but there’s still no sign of how that money will be spent.  We need those investments out the door today. 

Next, we need a countywide Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program to encourage tax-exempt organizations to contribute to the cost of County services and share responsibility for the success of our community. 

Finally, we need to collaborate with counties statewide to demand full funding of County Program Aid from the state and the repeal of HR1, the federal “big beautiful bill” which is slashing funding for medical and food assistance and which will add millions of dollars to County budget needs over the next few years.

Immigration: Minnesota saw significant impacts from the increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations earlier this year, including closed businesses, students missing school, protests, and law enforcement conflicts. How do you rate the county’s response and what should the county do in future conflicts?

Rebecca Noecker: I would give the County a C rating for its response to Operation Metro Surge. While the County made some adjustments to how it disbursed public benefits so they would be easier for residents to access without leaving their homes, there was so much more the County could have done. 

In the City of St. Paul, we moved aggressively to strengthen our separation ordinance, ban masking and require ID for law enforcement, and prohibit federal agents from staging in our parking lots. We added $1 million in emergency rent assistance and expanded the eviction notice period to 60 days to give residents more time to make rent.  We delayed license renewal fees for a year so small businesses didn’t have to worry about an added cost at a tough time.

The County should move with urgency to create a strong separation ordinance to prevent County employees from cooperating with federal agents.  It should also ban masking for all law enforcement officers operating in the County, including the Sheriff’s deputies and federal agents.

Maria Isa Perez-Vega: I fought ICE in every way last year in my role as state legislator and as a community leader. I spoke out clearly and publicly against ICE from early on. I raised large amounts of goods, money and supplies for families and delivered them and I stood by small businesses as they struggled with the terrible impact of the ICE invasion. The county did some really good things when dealing with ICE – often under the radar. My understanding is that Ramsey County did not cooperate with ICE and did everything it could to keep delivering benefits to people who needed them – sometimes coming up with creative new ways to do it. Finally, the county allowed businesses a temporary two-month extension for first-half 2026 property tax payments because of the disruption caused by ICE. I will fight for our most vulnerable in every way in future conflicts.

Transparency: Data privacy is an increasingly important issue with concerns about Flock cameras and sharing data with the federal government. Do you support the continued use of Flock cameras in Dakota County? Why or why not?

Maria Isa Perez-Vega: I support getting rid of Flock cameras. Flock is only one of the companies selling surveillance. I don’t think just getting rid of Flock cameras solves the problem of how much surveillance there is or how the information is controlled. I support the measure we proposed in the legislature last year – which will be introduced again in the next session – that restricts all surveillance technologies and companies that are being used and strictly controls surveillance not only in Saint Paul and Ramsey County but in the state.  Surveillance must always be subject to and within the bounds of constitutional protections on our privacy. Neither AI or any unauthorized individual should have access to our information.

Rebecca Noecker: I do not support the continued use of Flock cameras in Ramsey County. I authored a resolution, which passed unanimously, calling on both the City and the County to end their contracts with Flock. Since then, the City has taken down both of its Flock cameras but the County has made no moves to do the same.

Flock is a networked, privately operated surveillance system that raises serious questions about data collection, access, and sharing.

We’ve heard loud and clear from constituents across Saint Paul that they want these cameras removed. When our neighbors raise a concern, policymakers should listen and act.

Saint Paul and Ramsey County have done significant work to build safeguards around public safety technology. But Flock has a national record that has fallen short of those standards in other communities. Even if we’re doing our due diligence here, continuing to associate our public safety departments with Flock risks undermining the trust we’ve worked hard to build.

Homeless: St. Paul recently cleared out homeless encampments. Where is the county failing in the services it provides and what can be done to better support homeless people?

Rebecca Noecker: People experiencing homelessness have been failed by the system in every way. Inadequate mental health care, lack of chemical dependency support and a shortage of affordable and supportive housing all contribute to the problem.

Ramsey County needs to invest in supportive housing that meets the needs of people living outside. That means smaller-scale, safer-feeling residences where people can come with their partners, their pets and their property, and where counseling and job training is offered on site.  It means adopting the data-backed “Housing First” model, which recognizes that housing is the first step toward recovery and welcomes people into housing regardless of whether they are high or intoxicated. Ramsey should also follow Hennepin County’s example by directly funding shelter operations and guaranteeing shelter to families with children.

In addition, Ramsey County and St. Paul must develop a unified strategy to treat opioid abuse disorder. We need to go beyond overdose prevention and focus on medically-assisted treatment through drugs like suboxone. We should use our opioid settlement dollars to fund a bridge treatment clinic at Regions Hospital and provide community-based treatment spaces where people can access suboxone on an ongoing basis.

Maria Isa Perez-Vega: All levels of government share responsibility for addressing homelessness   – the city, the county, and the state – and if we’re going to make headway and alleviate it, we need to do it together. If we fail, we are failing together. I was deeply concerned before the Fish Hatchery encampment was closed and shared the desire by some advocates for there to be a pause, because the services and the beds were not available. Other homeless encampments are now struggling to absorb a huge and unmanageable new population and residents are living in fear.   For Ramsey County and the City of Saint Paul to succeed and reduce encampments, we need more money from the state to take care of unsheltered people, many of whom are not from Ramsey County. Also, long-term, the effort to manage homelessness must span many departments, not an isolated department on its own. It is public health – because mental health is a crisis for many residents. It’s drug addiction and past trauma treatment because that is also a part of many encampment resident’s challenges. We need a multi-prong approach with all stakeholders and that is what I will push for as your commissioner.

Lightning Round

We asked candidates a series of 10 simple questions and asked them to respond briefly in 25 words or less.

1. Do you have a library card? When did you last use it?

• Maria Isa Perez-Vega: Both my daughter and I are proud Library Card Owners. I almost always have books out.
• Rebecca Noecker: Yes.  I last used it earlier this summer to check out a book for my son.

2. Do you support efforts to reduce climate change?

• Rebecca Noecker: Yes. I support the City’s energy benchmarking program and I recently authored a tree preservation ordinance to reduce heat and improve air quality.
• Maria Isa Perez-Vega: Of course! I’m proud of my work as a water protector with tribal nations and I have led efforts to increase solar power.

3. Have you volunteered in your community in the past year? Where?

• Maria Isa Perez-Vega: I delivered groceries for families during ICE, drummed to support WSCO, and delivered pizza to youth in Children’s Hospital.
• Rebecca Noecker: Yes. Downtown and neighborhood cleanup efforts, the Stop for Me pedestrian safety campaign, as a guest speaker at schools, hosting student job shadows, and more.

4. Do you support more affordable housing in your county?

• Rebecca Noecker: Yes, and I’ve been proud to fund hundreds of new affordable units in my time on the City Council.
• Maria Isa Perez-Vega: Yes, I worked to provide it as a legislator, and I know we need to have a “Yes to everything approach” to build more.

5. Have you attended county events in a non-campaign capacity in the past year? Which ones?

• Maria Isa Perez-Vega: I love the European Christmas Market and music at the landmark center.
• Rebecca Noecker: Yes. For example, I toured the County’s former Boys’ Totem Town with the Southeast Community Organization to learn more about the ecology of the site.

6. Do you support more pedestrian and bike access?

• Rebecca Noecker: Yes, I’ve championed expanding the Capital City Bikeway downtown, narrowing streets and implementing the 20 mph speed limit citywide.
• Maria Isa Perez-Vega: Yes! I helped the state pay for rebuilding West 7th. It needs to be pedestrian/bike friendly if the county is going to commit significant dollars.

7. What’s your favorite local park?

• Maria Isa Perez-Vega: Harriet Island is right near me, and I run, play with my family and friends, and listen to music there.
• Rebecca Noecker: Baker Park.  It’s where my kids play pickup baseball and it’s just a few blocks from our house.

8. Do you support more public art?

• Rebecca Noecker: Yes. I’m proud to have funded several pieces of public art, including skyway art created by SPPS students and the West Side pedestrian bridge mural.
• Maria Isa Perez-Vega: Absolutely, many of my dearest friends create public art and I do everything I can to make sure people see it.

9. Who is someone that inspires you?

• Maria Isa Perez-Vega: I am inspired by children in our communities and women of color who overcame much to lead before me. I stand on their shoulders.
• Rebecca Noecker: My mother has always inspired me.  She managed to balance a demanding full-time job with being a great mother, daughter, sister, wife and community member.

10. If you were grading county government overall on an academic scale for the past year, what grade would you give? 

• Rebecca Noecker:  B-.
• Maria Isa Perez-Vega: B. They supported families that needed help, ran great elections, took a bold step with “Building Stronger Together.” They need to include the community more.

More Information

• East Metro Voter’s Guide
• League of Women Voters Candidate Forum (Oct. 12)

See our full local voter’s guide for information on more races and candidates.

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