Add to the list of candidates who hope to replace Melvin Carter III on the St. Paul City Council: Kazoua Kong-Thao, who was on the St. Paul School Board for eight years.
Carter will leave the council in July, halfway through his second term, to take a job with the state Education Department.
Kong-Thao, who served on the school board from 2004 to 20011, is now equity and diversity director for the Minneapolis Public Schools.
She joins other announced candidates Johnny Howard, who ran against Carter two years ago, Noel Nix, Carter's council aide, and Dai Thao, an IT manager who's worked on progressive causes.