The Mecklenburg County Commission got a major shakeup on Tuesday, with longtime At-Large Commissioner Pat Cotham, once the top vote-getter, losing her at-large seat by a large margin.
In heavily Democratic Mecklenburg County, most of the action is in the primary. Democrats currently hold a 9-0 majority on the County Commission, and some of the Democratic winners Tuesday — like current Board Chairman George Dunlap — will face no competition in the general election. No Republicans are running countywide for at-large seats, so the three winners of the Democratic primary are guaranteed a spot.
Here are the winners of the primary races:
At-large seats
Incumbent Pat Cotham trailed the three leaders with just 17.6% of the vote.
Cotham has been on the commission since 2012 and typically wins reelection with ease — in 2022, she got the most votes in the county and beat her nearest challenger by 10,000 votes. But she has faced a lot of blowback this year, after her daughter, state Rep. Tricia Cotham, switched parties from Democrat to Republican to give the GOP a supermajority in the General Assembly.
Cotham didn't get the Black Political Caucus' endorsement this year as she has in years past, and the Meck LGBT Dems rated her "insufficient" after rating her "sufficient" in 2022.
Incumbents Leigh Altman and Arthur Griffin Jr., were first and second, with 26% and 24.8%, respectively. Challenger Yvette Townsend-Ingram — who did get the Black Political Caucus nod — was in third place, with 23.8%.
Townsend-Ingram said it helped to run against someone with the last name Cotham.
"She’s done her work with the Black community, but absolutely I think that her daughter damaged her reputation. And not because it was just her name, but because she came out and said that she supported her daughter in all she did," she told WFAE.
Challenger Blake Van Leer was in fifth place, with 7.9%.
District 2
Incumbent Vilma Leake easily beat challenger Charles Osborne 63% to 37%.
Leake also didn't get the Black Political Caucus' endorsement this year, despite getting it in previous elections.
Republican Angela Edwards is running for the seat in the general election.
District 3
Incumbent George Dunlap led with 68% of the vote to Felicia Thompkins' 32%.
There were no primaries in Districts 1, 4, 5 and 6.
