Saint Paul Mayor Kaohly Her is under investigation for sexual harassment after her own police chief filed a formal complaint alleging she sent sexually explicit text messages to city employees, just six months into her historic tenure.

Police Chief Axel Henry filed the complaint with Saint Paul City Attorney Irene Kao on April 1, accusing Her of sending what the filing calls "inappropriate, and indeed, unlawful text messages" to subordinate city workers, including members of the Saint Paul Police Department. The complaint, obtained by local news station KSTP, details a pattern of messages that Henry's lawyer says went well beyond a single lapse in judgment.

Her, a 53-year-old Democrat who made history as Saint Paul's first female mayor after defeating incumbent Melvin Carter III in a general election, now faces questions about whether her conduct toward the people who work for her violated the law. Her office has acknowledged the investigation but refused to address the substance of the allegations.

Texts described 'a good weinering' and 'Happy Weiner Wednesday'

The complaint spells out specific messages Her allegedly sent to staffers. One text read "Happy Weiner Wednesday" and included a hotdog emoji. Another said: "Wish I was having a [hotdog emoji] with you all on 6 today."

A third message included an altered image of a baby wrapped in a blanket, paired with the caption: "When she wraps you up in her blanket after you gave her a good weinering." The face on the baby in the doctored image was redacted in the complaint. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that the redacted face belonged to an officer who had previously served on Her's security detail.

That last detail makes the messages harder to dismiss as harmless jokes. If the mayor was circulating altered photos of a specific police officer in a sexually suggestive context, the conduct moves from crude humor into something that looks a lot like targeted harassment of a subordinate.

Henry's complaint calls the conduct 'illegal' and demands a phone extraction

Chris Madel, the attorney representing Chief Henry, sent the complaint letter directly to City Attorney Kao. The letter does not hold back. Madel wrote:

"The city is on notice that Mayor Her has engaged in illegal conduct towards City employees."

The complaint also called for a "full filesystem extraction" of the cell phones involved, a forensic process that would recover deleted messages, metadata, and any other digital evidence tied to the mayor's communications with staffers.

Henry filed after receiving reports that Her's behavior "extended beyond isolated incidents and has included sexual harassment of subordinate City employees, including members of the Saint Paul Police Department," the complaint states. That language suggests the chief was hearing from multiple people inside his own department before he decided to act.

The complaint letter framed Henry's decision to come forward as a matter of duty. It states: "In choosing to act, Chief Henry is not only seeking to address the wrongdoing but to create a measure of protection for his team, signaling that such conduct will not be tolerated."

When a police chief puts his name on a formal sexual harassment complaint against the mayor who oversees his department, the professional risk is obvious. Henry, who was named police chief in November 2022, chose to file anyway. Just The News reported that the complaint alleges Her sent the messages via mobile phone to Henry and other city employees, reinforcing the picture of a pattern rather than a one-off mistake.

Her's office offers regret but no denial

The mayor's office responded to the allegations with a statement that stopped well short of disputing the texts. A spokesperson told KSTP:

"The mayor has deep respect for city employees and regrets any unintended impact her actions may have had."

The office added that it "wouldn't comment on an 'active investigation.'" That phrasing is worth noting. By calling it an active investigation, the mayor's own team confirmed the probe is underway, even as they declined to address the specifics.

The statement did not deny sending the messages. It did not claim they were fabricated, taken out of context, or mischaracterized. It expressed regret for "unintended impact," which concedes that something happened while trying to minimize the intent behind it.

Accountability in public office is not a partisan question, but the double standard is hard to ignore. When allegations like these surface against Republican officials, the institutional response is swift and the media coverage relentless. When a Democratic mayor, particularly one celebrated as a barrier-breaking first, faces the same kind of complaint, the instinct in many newsrooms is to bury the story or soften the framing. The conduct described in this complaint would end careers in the private sector. Whether it ends Her's political career remains to be seen. Cases involving law enforcement leadership under scrutiny have drawn serious consequences elsewhere.

Six months from historic victory to harassment investigation

Her's rise to office was, by any measure, a compelling story. Born in Laos, she moved to the United States at age 3 after the Vietnam War. She served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from January 2019 through November 2025 before winning the Saint Paul mayor's race.

After her election victory over Carter, the city's first Black mayor, Her reflected on the moment. She said: "My family came here as refugees. Never in their wildest dreams would I be standing here today accepting the position of mayor." She added: "Three months ago, people told us this was impossible, look at us now."

That story, immigrant family, public service, historic first, is now overshadowed by a formal complaint from her own police chief alleging she sent sexually explicit messages to the people who report to her. The timeline is striking. Her took office after the November election. Roughly six months later, the investigation was already underway.

Key questions the investigation must answer

Several critical facts remain unclear. The complaint does not specify which legal statutes Her allegedly violated, beyond characterizing the messages as "unlawful." It is not publicly known whether any of the staffers who received the texts filed their own complaints, or whether the messages went to individuals or group chats.

The meaning of "on 6" in one of the texts, "Wish I was having a [hotdog emoji] with you all on 6 today", is unexplained in the complaint. Whether it refers to a floor, a shift, or something else entirely could matter to the investigation's findings.

Most important: what happens next? The city attorney's office has the complaint. A forensic phone extraction has been requested. But there is no public indication of a timeline for the investigation's conclusion, or what consequences Her might face if the allegations are substantiated.

City employees deserve a workplace where the person at the top of the chain of command does not send them sexually suggestive messages. That standard does not change because the mayor is a Democrat, a woman, or a historic first, it applies precisely because the power runs in one direction.