Republican Tariq Bokhari wins close rematch over Democratic challenger

Republican incumbent Tariq Bokhari held off a repeat challenge from Democrat Stephanie Hand in south Charlotte's District 6, carrying the election by 352 votes — just five fewer than his narrow victory last year.

Hand led by more than 1,300 votes when early voting totals were released at 7:30 p.m. But Bokhari fared better in Election Day voting, gradually overcoming Hand's early lead as each batch of votes came in.

Bokhari's margin of victory was 1.5% — 50.7% to 49.2%. That's outside the margin for a recount. There are about 400 outstanding mail-in ballots that haven't been returned, plus some provisional ballots cast on Election Day, so those exact margins could change. But election officials said they don't expect to receive most of those mail ballots back.

Hand did not concede Tuesday night, telling supporters that she would wait to see the final provisional ballot count.

Hand's victory would have given Democrats a 10-1 advantage on the City Council. That would have been the largest advantage they held since the city went to partisan elections in the mid-1970s. The south Charlotte district has historically voted overwhelmingly for Republicans.

Bokhari was first elected in 2017, getting more than 62% of the vote. But he only won reelection last year by 357 votes, or less than 2%, against Hand.

Bokhari is one of the last two Republicans on Charlotte City Council; his Republican colleague, Ed Driggs, ran unopposed in District 7.

The District 6 race was the only competitive race in this fall’s city elections, and the Bokhari-Hand rematch was hard fought. Voters in District 6 were deluged with texts, phone calls and video messages sent to their phones in the final weeks of the campaign.

"It’s because we spent an amount of money that was given and entrusted to us by our supporters that enabled us to put over 300,000 pieces of mail out there," Bokhari said at a victory party at Selwyn Pub. "Over 100,000 live human calls to voters in District 6. And some very creative campaigning at the end."

The creative campaigning refers to a furious push in the final week to criticize Hand for comments she made, saying that she had “run airports.” Hand had been an executive for Host Marriott, a predecessor of HMSHost, which runs concessions at Charlotte Douglas airport and others. Bokhari said she had misrepresented her work experience.

On Election Day, Bokhari paid for a plane to fly over south Charlotte. It pulled a banner saying “Want the Plane Truth? Vote Bokhari.”

Since the start of 2022, Bokhari has raised nearly $240,000, as of Oct. 23. He’s spent more than $47,000 in September and most of October.

Hand, a minister in the United Methodist Church, has raised $131,000 in 2022 and 2023. She has spent more than $36,000 in September and most of October.

At a polling place Tuesday morning, she said she was cautiously optimistic.

"I think that is a groundswell," she said. "We have a great team that's working extremely extremely hard."

When Bokhari was first elected in 2017, he was one of a wave of six new, young members that some called the "Millennial City Council."

But only two of those six will remain in 2024: Bokhari and At-large City Council member Dimple Ajmera.

At-large City Council member Braxton Winston is running for North Carolina Labor Commissioner. The others previously chose to not seek reelection.

WFAE editor Ely Portillo contributed.