Robert Harrington will be the next mayor of the nation’s 14th largest city. The Charlotte City Council voted to select Harrington to finish out the term of Mayor Vi Lyles, which ends in December 2027. The five-term Democrat announced in May she would resign from office June 30, less than halfway through her latest term.
Council members chose to open a public application to find her successor, and more than 110 people applied for the job. The council winnowed that list down to five finalists who interviewed for the post last week ahead of Monday’s vote.
The council made similar appointments when Patrick Cannon stepped down in 2014 after he was indicted on public corruption charges and in 2013 when Anthony Foxx left the city to become the federal secretary of transportation.
Lyles has not given a reason for her resignation beyond wanting to spend more time with her family. But she’s missed more than a third of council meetings since December, the Observer reported previously, marking the lowest attendance rate of her tenure amid whispered speculation about her ability to manage meetings.
Harrington is a trial attorney and president of the North Carolina Bar Association. He practices with the law firm Robinson Bradshaw, where he “litigates complex business disputes” and “represents corporate clients and individuals in contract, trade practice and other business matters.”
His past civic engagement includes involvement with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library Board and the boards of the Arts and Sciences Council, TreesCharlotte and the Levine Museum of the New South.
Multiple people who signed up to speak Monday during a public hearing about the interim mayor position voiced support for Harrington. Asked to describe himself to Charlotte residents, the newcomer to elected office told reporters, “I’m all for Charlotte.” No one received six votes, a simple majority of the 11 council members, on the City Council’s first vote. That led to a second vote between the two top vote-getters, and Harrington received a majority over former Federal Reserve official Carrie Cook.
The vote tally on the first ballot was Former Council member and Mecklenburg County Commissioner Harold Cogdell – 2 votes
Cook – 3 votes
Harrington – 4 votes
Mayor Pro Tem James Mitchell – 2 votes
State Sen. Caleb Theodros – 0 votes
Council members cast their votes on paper ballots that were tallied by the city clerk before Lyles read the results aloud. The vote tally of the second ballot was not immediately clear because it was not read aloud — only that Harrington was the winner. After Lyles announced that Harrington won the second ballot, the council voted unanimously to acclaim Harrington as the city’s next mayor.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein was quick to congratulate Harrington on social media Monday night. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mayor Lyles for many years. Charlotte is better for her leadership. I’ve also known Rob Harrington for years, and I look forward to working with him as mayor to build on Charlotte’s progress,” the Democrat wrote on X/Twitter.
Harrington told reporters following the vote he was “excited to work with” the council members who selected him Monday. “You can feel their passion about the city, and I can feel their passion about the city, and we’re just looking forward to the future,” he said. “We’re gonna have 18 great months.” Harrington said his “record of leadership” helped him win over council members.
“We had incredible candidates for this job. We had an incredible process,” he said. “It was very brief, but really look forward to bringing those skills of listening, transparency, communication [and] collaboration to bear for the city.”
Harrington told council members during his formal interview he won’t run for mayor in 2027, something council members have frequently looked for in appointees to fill vacancies in order to avoid giving a potential candidate the advantage of incumbency. But that pledge is not legally binding. Asked if he ever thought he’d serve in elected office,
Harrington said with a laugh he was heading to spend the rest of the evening with his grandchildren “because that’s what I thought I’d be doing. But I’m really excited about this opportunity,” he said.
This article appears courtesy of our media partner The Charlotte Observer.
