For years, Charlotte City Council District 6 in SouthPark and Myers Park was a Republican fortress.
But last year, Republican incumbent Tariq Bokhari only won reelection by 357 votes, or less than 2%, against Democrat Stephanie Hand. Hand is challenging Bokhari again this year.
It’s unclear if that was due to demographic changes, as voters there are increasingly picking Democrats in other races.
Or if it was due to Bokhari himself — an often combative politician who is often at the center of the news cycle.
“Am I fiery? 100 percent,” Bokhari said. “Should I smile more? I hear that every day.”
During the pandemic, Bokhari said he was louder than usual because he was reacting to what he said were particularly divisive issues, such as the City Council’s decision to abolish zoning for only single-family homes, which he opposed. He also was City Council’s most vocal supporter of Charlotte police during the George Floyd protests.
“And from that period it went from peace to wartime,” said Bokhari, who was first elected in 2017. “And the wartime was the pandemic recovery and the mudslinging that occurred around riots and having to stand up and be one of the sole voices for the police department.”
He added: “As I looked around, I realized there was no one really stand up the way that I could and needed to. And when you do that, your persona is different.”
But over the last year or so, Bokhari has toned it down, perhaps due to his reelection scare.
His opponent, Hand, is a minister in the United Methodist Church. She’s also a former airport executive in Charlotte and Little Rock, Arkansas.
The District 6 race is the only competitive race in this fall’s city elections.
She is building her campaign around themes like collaboration and consensus. Hand said she first ran in 2022 because she was frustrated by City Council members bickering.
“And I was talking to the TV,” Hand said about watching a City Council meeting. “And my son who was standing behind me, he’s 6-2, he said ‘Mom, mom.’ He said in the Hand household we don’t complain about things unless we have solutions. So what’s your solution to this problem?”
She said people urged her to run because “they’re tired of the back and forth of council. They are tired of name-calling. They are tired of the lack of people working together.”
Bokhari said that sounds nice, but he said he’s one of the few City Council members to say hard truths, like his calls for leadership changes at the Charlotte Area Transit System even before problems with light-rail maintenance were discovered six months ago. Bokhari repeatedly said former CATS chief executive John Lewis should be fired.
Upcoming debate over quality of life infractions
He also criticized Hand for not taking positions on issues, such as an upcoming vote on whether to reinstate criminal penalties for infractions like public urination and defecation. Two years ago, the City Council decided against making those infractions — along with public masturbation and public drinking — criminal offenses.
“When I see her unwilling to say what she would do in the very actions we are trying to take on homelessness and panhandling, which is absolutely out of control,” Bokhari said. “You are going to come in and make these decisions right away. You owe it to the people not to dodge them.”
When asked, Hand wouldn’t say how she would vote on that issue, which will likely be considered by the next council.
She says giving police arrest powers could create more problems.
“Do we put them in jail?” she asked. “I don’t know if we want to tax our overtaxed systems.”
Hand said the problem was more about young people leaving bars and going to the bathroom outside, even though uptown residents have repeatedly said the problem is from people who are homeless.
CMPD has also told council members it supports making public urination and defecation and public drinking arrestable offenses.
Hand said she wants to know what other council members and city staff think.
“We don’t know all the answers,” she said. “And when I have that information and do my personal research on the law, I will make my decision when all of those things are in order.”
Eastland vote
Hand has also taken shots at Bokhari, though in a more coded way.
“When I make decisions on City Council, I will not gain any self interest for the decisions or the votes in which I cast because I am a leader for the people,” she said.
She was referring to a recent City Council decision about what to build on a nearly 30-acre part of the old Eastland Mall site. Bokhari is a minority investor in an e-sports hub that has been proposed for the site.
The city attorney, Patrick Baker, said Bokhari didn’t have to recuse himself from the vote.
Last week, City Council members, including Bokhari, unanimously approved an Eastland plan that combined two different developer’s proposals, and the e-sports hub was part of the final plan.
Other issues
Last year, City Council members approved the Charlotte 2040 Plan and the Unified Development Ordinance, which eliminated zoning that only allowed for single-family homes.
Bokhari is against that change.
Hand said she supports the 2040 Plan and said Myers Park and other older neighborhoods show that duplexes and quadplexes can exist next to single-family homes.
Bokhari recently sent a campaign mailer that said “Crime is out of control in Charlotte.”
Though the homicide rate has risen sharply over the last five years, CMPD has said violent crime is down 8% for the first half of 2023 compared with the same period a year earlier. Overall crime is up 11%.
Hand said public safety is a big concern. She pointed to a recent shooting in the south Charlotte neighborhood of Park Crossing as a particular problem.
She said having more affordable housing will help people live in neighborhoods where they patrol.
A 9-2 or 10-1 City Council?
As one of two Republicans on an 11-member City Council, Bokhari said he has a different viewpoint.
“There is no danger that this city is going to take a hard-right turn and all of sudden become a conservative agenda city if I get re-elected,” Bokhari said. “What happens if I do not get re-elected, we will lose that diversity of perspective.”
Hand said she is going to do her extensive research before any vote.
“Because I think people want a leader who is going to do the due diligence,” she said.
Early voting starts Thursday, Oct. 19. Election Day is Nov. 7.
