Foxx wins race for Charlotte mayor (Charlotte Observer)
Voters ended more than two decades of Republican leadership in Charlotte Tuesday by electing Democrat Anthony Foxx the city’s second African-American mayor and the youngest in memory.
Foxx won Charlotte’s closest mayoral race in years, taking just over 51 percent of the vote over Republican John Lassiter in unofficial totals.
At a victory celebration, Foxx shared a long hug with a jubilant Harvey Gantt, the last Democratic and first African-American mayor.
“It’s been 22 years since we’ve had this moment,” a hoarse Foxx told a cheering crowd at the Westin hotel. “The work of rebuilding our community starts very soon. … We will work together – Republican, Democrat and unaffiliated, white and black and Hispanic. … Let’s get going.
“We’re going to pull Charlotte together.”
He went on to thank Lassiter for a “race well run.”
An hour earlier, Lassiter had been conceding on live TV when his cell phone rang.
“Oh, it’s Anthony,” he said, telling Foxx, “You can count on me in any way I can serve this city. Good luck to you.”
Foxx carried a wide swath of precincts from east to west Charlotte, while Lassiter’s support was largely confined to a wedge in the south and southeast.
Though turnout was heaviest in the southeast, Foxx benefited from heavy straight-ticket voting that pushed Democrats to an 8-3 City Council majority.
Foxx got his strongest support in predominantly African-American precincts. He carried two by more than 1,000 votes. At East Stonewall AME Zion Church off Beatties Ford Road, he won 1,307 votes to Lassiter’s 3.
Foxx planned to continue the momentum that began a year ago when Barack Obama carried Charlotte by more than 25 percentage points. He benefited from a strong base. At 35 percent, the city’s proportion of black voters is more than a third higher than when Gantt was first elected in 1983.
After 14 years of Republican Mayor Pat McCrory, Foxx campaigned on a platform of change and promised to help Charlotte to “reach its true potential.” At 38, he’ll be a year younger than McCrory was when he was first elected at 39.
Throughout the campaign, Foxx stressed his own story: growing up in west Charlotte with a single mother and grandparents, becoming the first black student body president at Davidson College and going on to study law at New York University.
“My life example proved what this city must do,” he said Tuesday night, “which is the simple thing of believing in yourself.”
Lassiter, a lawyer and businessman, campaigned on experience. He brought a long resume of community service – as a neighborhood leader, planning commissioner, school board member and a City Council member since 2003. He said all that offered a stark contrast to Foxx, a council member for four years.
But change trumped experience for many voters.
Foxx supporter Lachelle Smith took her 5-year-old son Julius Hall to the polls at Hawthorne High School. He pointed to Foxx’s picture on a campaign flyer. “Why’s he running for mayor?” he asked.
“He wants to make changes in the city to help us,” Smith replied.
Lassiter had appeared to break away from Foxx in recent days.
Last week Raleigh’s Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling found the race tied. Monday it released a poll that gave Lassiter a 4-point lead and showed white undecided voters moving toward him.
The mayoral campaign featured more than 40 forums and debates and was widely applauded for its civility. That began to fray last week when Foxx and the state Democratic Party made an issue of Lassiter’s support from developers.
In a televised debate, Lassiter accused Foxx of spreading “false information” about his record and later lashed out at a state party mailing that he said injected negative politics into the campaign. Foxx distanced himself from the mailing.
Throughout the campaign, the two tried to underscore contrasts over streetcar funding and taxes. But many people struggled to find differences between candidates whose City Council voting records were often similar.
“I don’t see a big difference between the two, frankly,” said Republican Ben Kinney, a magazine publisher who voted for Lassiter in east Charlotte. “I have a strong feeling Democrats are basically going to control most of City Council.”
Foxx alluded to the strengthened grip Democrats will hold on council.
“There’s a great amount of opportunity there,” he said. “But there’s a great amount of pressure.”
By Jim Morrill
jmorrill@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009
Staff writers Tonya Jameson, Ted Mellnik, Ely Portillo and Kirsten Valle contributed.
