Ramsey County Commissioner Rafael Ortega, the longest serving member of the county board, informed supporters on Friday that he would not run for re-election next November, ending his 31-year career in county politics.
His decision comes about three weeks after Rebecca Noecker, the president of the St. Paul City Council, informed key contacts that she planned to run for his District 5 seat on the county board, and three days after she made her campaign announcement official.
Noecker on Friday said she was grateful for Ortega’s years of service. “Thirty years is remarkable,” she said.
Ortega, who is currently the board chair, became the first person of color elected to the county board in 1994. He has frequently served as either board chair or chair of the county’s regional rail authority, which played key roles in advocating for a second daily Amtrak train to Chicago, the renovation of the downtown St. Paul Union Depot transit hub and the launch of Metro Transit’s Green Line light rail service.
He had said last month he planned to seek re-election despite facing a challenge from Noecker, but he would wait to make his decision official between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He’s since had time to reflect on his options.
“It is with mixed feelings that I share that I will not be seeking reelection next year,” wrote Ortega to key contacts on Friday. “This was not an easy decision for me because we are working on so many important, exciting things this year and I would love to see them through. But I’m lucky to be healthy and I am excited to spend time with my mother, my kids and my grandkids – four generations of Ortegas – as well as family and friends around the world. And I know time is precious.”
Ortega said the county, which launched its own Housing and Redevelopment Authority levy in 2023, has funded construction of more than 2,000 housing units and invested more than $50 million in affordable housing in just two years.
“With your help, we built the Union Depot, the Green Line, and the Gold Line transit ways,” he wrote. “We built the Roseville Library, the busiest in the state, to the highest environmental standards possible.”
With Ortega’s urging, the county in 2013 purchased the 427-acre Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant, the former grounds of a military munitions factory, for the future Rice Creek Commons development in Arden Hills, which is still largely in its planning stages. The Micro Control Company broke ground there in April for a new headquarters within a 40-acre parcel on the north end of the site.
In 2015, the county began clearing the former county jail property and the neighboring West Publishing offices along Kellogg Boulevard in downtown St. Paul to make room for the future RiversEdge development, which has yet to get off the ground.
Ortega said he looked forward to seeing both projects someday “bring jobs, opportunity and vitality to Ramsey County and to expand the tax base.”
Had he stayed in the running for re-election, Ortega would have likely faced tough questions about a long-planned streetcar or bus rapid transit system along West Seventh Street, which the county abandoned last year following years of debate over the proper transit mode and alignment.
The county instead redirected some $730 million in planned funding from its half-cent sales tax to other road and transit projects, most of them disconnected from the corridor, leaving the long-awaited reconstruction of West Seventh Street further in doubt.
The seven-member county board will vote on Tuesday on a $929 million budget proposal, which includes a 9.75% increase to the property tax levy.
